


Queen of Air and Darkness

by ScarlettJuniper



Category: Naruto
Genre: Arthurian AU, BAMF Haruno Sakura, Betrayal, Dueling, F/M, Journey to the Underworld, Knights--lots of them, M/M, Ninja Politics turned Medieval Politics, Pining, Slow Burn, Tournaments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:20:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 34
Words: 159,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23665279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarlettJuniper/pseuds/ScarlettJuniper
Summary: The return of the rightful king of Konoha and what came after.orThere is no place for sorceresses in the kingdom of men.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 261
Kudos: 368





	1. i. queen of air and darkness

The day the rightful king returned to Konoha, grey clouds blocked the horizon and a light dusting of rain battered the glass of the windows. Sakura sat before the great stained-glass windows of the northwest tower, cutting the stalks out of healing herbs to grind into poultice. The grey clouds limited her vision as she worked, or else she would have been the first to know about the arrival. 

Instead, she was forced to get her news in the usual way-through gossips and messengers. Kakashi Hatake, advisor to the Queen-Regent and Sakura’s former mentor darkened her doorway, messenger hawk on his arm. Sakura glanced at him sideways as she worked, careful not to let her the delicate skin of her hands touch the astringent herbs she ground into paste at her mortar. It would burn her flesh a bright cherry red if she slipped, and so Sakura paid Kakashi little heed from her workstation. So she did not pay close enough attention to the travel-worn look of his cloak and the wild expression in his storm-dark eyes.

“The watch has spotted riders on the horizon,” Kakashi finally spoke. 

“That is their job, is it not?” Sakura could not keep the hint of acid from her tone as she focused on her work. Kakashi did not seek her out frequently, an odd fact considering he was once her mentor and squadron leader. As her squadron leader Kakashi had barely had time for the slip of a girl foisted upon him—the last living Uchiha and the orphan Naruto Uzumaki demanded too much attention instead. Sakura had been forced to turn to other guides, and she had slipped out of Kakashi’s attention. 

Or so she had thought until Kakashi appeared before her today. 

“It is a party of two,” Kakashi said. “Riding alone from the west.” 

“Bandits?” She looked up from her work for a moment, taking him in with new suspicion. Kakashi was as impossible to read as ever, his storm grey eye wary. He wore the uniform of the castle watch, and to the untrained eye, he would look like nothing more than a guardsman returned from a particularly grueling shift. His true titles and rank were not something Kakashi liked to reveal—although the close observer could tell that Kakashi had seen battle. An eyepatch covered his right eye, a testament to the carnage he had faced. But that was not enough to know how truly dangerous Kakashi Hatake was. Sakura had seen him in battle, had seen the speed with which he could dispatch a man. 

His constant lazy expression and guardsman uniform disguised one of the most dangerous men in Konoha.

But now, his usually lazy expression was gone. It was replaced with a guarded alacrity. Mere bandits would not bother Kakashi, the Copy Knight. The kingdom of Konoha was well armed to whether a few bandits. 

“Lord Jiraiya rode at the front,” Kakashi said, and Sakura felt the first chill prickle at her neck. Two years ago, Jiraiya had swept his squire away, to train him in the arts of governance and war.

Sakura’s hand slipped, dipping into the poultice, burning her fingertips. She yelped at the pain, and before she could speak, Kakashi had crossed the length of the room to stand beside her. He reached out reflexively, as though to take the injured hand in his, but seemed to think better of it.

“It’s nothing,” Sakura hissed, wiping the offending fingertips on her pink handkerchief. For a single moment, she resented that this was how the kingdom saw her. The helpless healer that could do nothing more than grind herbs. “Nothing a healer’s apprentice couldn’t handle.” 

Kakashi’s gaze narrowed slightly. “Is that what you call yourself now,” he asked. “Or is that what you’ll tell Naruto?” Sakura’s neck tensed slightly, disliking his tone. So many people had forgotten that she was part of Naruto and Sasuke’s squadron as a page, had almost forgotten that she was a full squire herself. Instead, they saw her as Tsunade’s apprentice, learning healing and other womanly matters. That Tsunade was the regent of the realm did not matter, especially not now that the one true king of Konoha had returned. 

But there was something new. Suspicion. The skin on Sakura’s arm prickled, sensing the air shift with a coming storm. “Am I not Lady Tsunade’s apprentice?” Sakura asked, looking up through her lashes at him. 

“Oh, I never once questioned that,” Kakashi scoffed, stepping away from her. “But we both know your studies go beyond…” he paused, taking in the herbs she had been grinding.

“Healing,” he finished, the word laded with heavy skepticism. Purple flowers still rested on her copper workstation, cut delicately from the stalks. _Aconitum napellus_ , toxic in small doses and an efficient poison when slipped in sauces and cooking oil. It had no functional uses in medicine, but Sakura had not been concerned as she plucked the deadly stems that morning. No one paid heed to a girl picking flowers, not even the apprentice to the most powerful woman in Konoha. 

“Are you jealous,” Sakura asked, delicately pouring the herbs into a glass vial. “After you denied me, did you think I would never find another knight to train under after I made squire?” Not looking at him, she tucked the vial into the pouch at her waist. For all that she was a squire on track to be knighted, Sakura eschewed tunics and hose for her day ware, opting instead for the simple gowns of a nobleman’s daughter. It suited her purposes just as well that most of the realm forgot about her. Abandoning her workstation she stood, ready to greet the one true king at the gates. 

“I don’t get jealous,” Kakashi said, his voice slightly hoarse as she swept past him. For a fleeting instant, her hand brushed his, the skin of her knuckles grazing the soft leather of his gloves. She had sought to unsettle him, and the physical contact seemed to be what pushed him over the edge. “I’ve never taken a squire. I never expected that you wouldn’t find someone else to train you.” There was a moment’s hesitation. Three statements and one of them carried the stench of a lie. Sakura couldn’t divine which one, but it didn’t matter.

Trained by the former king, knighted at fifteen, made captain of an Anbu squadron by seventeen, Kakashi was one of the greatest knights to grace the halls of Konoha. He had trained her as a page, but it had been a perfunctory training, an accessory to his instruction of the two reckless boys under his command. There had been no room for a girl, untested by tragedy and unworn by battle. So, she had left him behind—eventually. 

“Sakura,” Kakashi said, putting a hand on her shoulder. It should have been a steadying gesture, but instead his hand weight heavy with unspoken thoughts. There relationship had shifted in the last two years, from mentor to student to…what exactly? Something mirroring equality, for all that Sakura could never hope to match Kakashi on the battlefield. 

And this new suspicion. He knew Tsunade instructed her in more than poultices and wound-care. “Naruto is home,” he finally said. “This is a day to celebrate.” 

Sakura’s smile was thin as a knife as she said, “then let us greet him.” 

* * *

The audience chambers were vast and echoed with the sounds of whispers and gossip as Sakura and Kakashi arrived. Perhaps it was unwise for a mere squire to walk before the fabled knight-captain, but Sakura paid caution no heed as she stepped in front of him. Naruto may have been named the rightful king, but Sakura had once been his equal—his better even. She would not demure behind their old mentor like a scared girl. 

When they arrived Naruto was already in the center of a crowd of courtiers, determined to capture his favor. Internally Sakura scoffed—two years ago Naruto had been nothing but a stable hand that some had said had no right to try for knighthood. Now, they stepped on each other to swear their fealty. 

Sakura brushed through the crowd, nearly shoving Hinata out of the way. The heir to the Hyuga holdings stood on the outskirts, her gaze transfixed on Naruto. As Sakura approached, she could hardly blame the girl. Two years had done good for Naruto. He had filled out with muscle, and though he still insisted on wearing raucously orange livery…it suited him now. He almost seemed to glow with the saturated colors, the orange setting off his golden hair and bright blue eyes. For a moment, Sakura had the childish thought that it was like staring into the sun. Naruto greeted old friends with hand clasps and embraces, without a trace of reluctance. Naruto, it seemed, held no grudge for the way he had been treated before claiming his birthright. 

When he spotted her, Naruto yelled her name, pushing past Ino and Kiba into an embrace. Despite herself, Sakura relaxed into the touch. For all the distance between their personalities and the years apart, they had been teammates once. They had fought mercenaries and traitors together, forging a bond in battle. 

“You’ve changed, Sakura,” Naruto said, releasing her from the hug. Suspicious, Sakura scanned his gaze, looking for underlying malice. But there was nothing but an amused twinkle in his gaze, and Sakura realized he was looking her _body_ up and down. 

On reflex, she slapped him. Forgetting that he was the rightful king, that he outranked her in a thousand different ways, Sakura’s hand hit Naruto’s cheek with the exact same resounding slap she employed in their page days.

The hall fell silent. 

Sakura’s face flushed with horror at what she had done. It may have once been acceptable to push Naruto around, but those days were long over. Every muscle in her body tensed for a fight as she realized she could be branded a traitor. Even Tsunade would not defend her publicly if Naruto decided to take offense. The silence was deafening in her ears, and for a moment Sakura considered falling to her knees and submitting to the humiliation of begging for forgiveness. 

Just as her knees began to bend, Naruto shattered the silence with a laugh. “You haven’t changed that much, then,” he said, bellowing with laughter. Around him, the hall relaxed, already taking their cues from their king. Sakura smiled, hiding her relief and going on as though nothing had changed between them.

A hand gently pushed her aside, Kakashi’s hand, as he stepped in front of her, shunting her to the side. Naruto had already forgotten Sakura as he turned to their old mentor, pulling out a bound up roll of papers from his traveling bag to push int Kakashi’s hand. “Sir Jiraiya’s new book,” he said, and the tip of Kakashi’s ears flushed the faintest red as he accepted the boon with hands trembling with excitement. 

It was as though nothing had changed between the three of them, a tableau of old jokes and friendly offense. Even Naruto didn’t seem aware of how the tides of power had shifted entirely in his favor, or notice the hungry way the other squires of their year circled him, eager to steal even just a hint of his shine for themselves.

Only Sakura seemed to know that things would never be the same.


	2. ii. the most knavish among them

ii. the most knavish among them

Naruto’s return did not come without reason.Jiraiya arrived with news of attacks on the border, quick strikes by well-trained forces without pattern or goal.Displeased by this news, Kakashi folded his arms across his chest.Jiraiya had never been much for sacrificing for the crown, preferring to roam the countryside righting wrongs and committing acts of heroism (or so he told the women of taverns scattered across the continent).But there was no doubting the knight’s skill in battle or his experience. 

If Tsunade was distressed by the news, she did not let it show.The war council was filled with lords who itched to see her grasp on the kingdom topple.Gone were the days when she would publicly lose her temper in the war room—but that did not mean Kakashi could not feel ire radiating off of her.The source, however, he was still unsure of.

Jiraiya leaned back in his chair, steeling his hands in front of him.“I suspect the attacks are tied to Orochimaru and Otogakure.They wear no livery, but they aren’t armed like bandits.They also don’t take anything from the villages they raid.”

“Does Naruto share these suspicions?”Kakashi raised the question.The young king of Konoha had a grudge against Orochimaru; a grudge that had sent him into a flurry of action two years ago when Orochimaru had first attacked the kingdom.In Kakashi’s gut, he did not trust Naruto to behave rationally if he thought Orochimaru was a threat to his kingdom—or in any matters regarding the former Konoha knight.

“He does,” Jiraiya acquiesced.Perhaps sensing Kakashi’s hesitation, he added, “He’s matured over the last two years.He knows better than to act rashly.He will not lead the country to war without evidence.”

“But he is still determined to lead the country to war,” Danzo murmured.Kakashi spared the older man a glance, finding himself reluctantly agreeing.The Naruto Kakashi had known would have ridden into battle against Orochimaru himself, with nothing but a sword to exact his vengeance. So much the better if he could muster an army; political consequence be damned.

Tsunade gestured for Danzo to be silent.“There will be no war.”

“And what say do you have in the matter?" Danzo's rebuke was sharp and angry. "Unless tou have no intention of allowing him to rule,” Danzo turned on the regent.“You plan on seizing power for yourself.”Tsunade leaned back in her chair, for a moment looking like an angry serpent ready to strike.

“I have and will do what is best for the realm,” she hissed, only barely keeping her temper in check. “I could have seized power at any moment, and I have not.I do not plan on destabilizing the kingdom now.”

“We would never accept a sorceress’s rule,” Danzo snapped back. 

The air in the room froze at the accusation.Rumors had swirled around Tsunade since the death of her fiancé, but no one had ever dared voice them since her return.The stories claimed that Tsunade’s power went beyond healing, into darker, forbidden territory.Kakashi had always dismissed them out of hand, but based on the frosty edge of Tsunade’s voice she seemed threatened by the accusation. 

With good reason, he supposed.Sorcery had been made illegal in Konoha after the death of King Minato, the punishments for transgression harsh.But the laws were not without their problems.The definition of Sorcery was thin, calling it out as any kind of unnatural force wielded by man.The techniques noble families had developed over the years, that were used in Konoha’s defense, all came perilously close to the definition.

The mere accusation could be wielded like a knife against one’s political enemies.

Slowly, every nerve in his body alert, Kakashi put his feet on the polished mahogany of the war-table.He leaned back, as if bored by the conversation, pulling out the manuscript Naruto had gifted him. “I never expected you to be so loyal to King Naruto,” Kakashi demurred in Danzo’s direction.“I am sure he would thank you for your support.”

Danzo’s expression pinched in displeasure but he did not protest. 

“Now if we could get back to the matter at hand,” Kakashi gestured towards Jiraiya.“You lot may be interested in who is to rule, but the last I checked my job was to make sure there was a kingdom to actually rule over.”

Tsunade quirked a smile, and Danzo glowered slightly, but the tension fizzled away.Jiraiya nodded at Kakashi before continuing. 

Or, he would have continued had Izumo not rushed in, wearing the livery of the castle guard and breathing heavily.

“An attack,” he said, between heaving breaths.“In the lower levels.”

~~~~~~~~

They had come from within the castle.A small force, from what Izumo told Kakashi as they raced down the stairs.Kakashi barked orders to the guards they passed, mobilizing what forces he could find.Men were few and far between, either already in the midst of the action or on patrol outside of the castle.Sword in hand, Kakashi raced to the center of the action himself. 

It was not the fight he expected.Anarchy had broken out, no one quite sure who to fight. As he watched, guards in the livery of Konoha turned on one another, then stopped, unsure of whether they faced an enemy at all.Others attacked suddenly, their movements jerky as though controlled by invisible strings.Their faces were anguished as they turned on their comrades--Kakashi could only assume they had no control over their bodies. 

Kakashi scanned the room, searching for the source of the chaos, but it was lost in the press of bodies and clash of swords.It was too small a hall, meant to defend the castle from a proper onslaught, where the enemy fought in tidy lines in matching uniforms.Here, where a foe could be anyone, the architecture was worse than useless.It was dangerous. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi barely caught the sight of the blade coming for his head.He ducked, the hilt narrowly missing his skull and sliding harmlessly past his face.Above him, Iruka’s expression was frozen in unmitigated horror. 

“I’m sorry,” Iruka panted as he lunged for another attack.Kakashi dodged again, coming up against the stone wall of the castle.He couldn’t harm the other knight, putting him at a direct disadvantage. 

Kakashi only grunted in understanding, foisting his blade to parry his friend's attacks.

If the flat of Iruka’s blade hadn’t landed directly across Kakashi’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him, Kakashi would have missed it.As it was, the flutter of fabric, turning the corner, nearly faded into the background completely.It took getting the wind knocked out of him to turn his head just so, that he caught the motion.

Kakashi could not make out many details, but he knew it was no Konoha guard’s uniform.With a hurried apology, Kakashi shoved Iruka aside, diving around the corner to pursue the figure.

His luck did not fail him.A figure hurried down the hall, wearing a dark cloak decorated with a pattern of red clouds. 

“Halt,” Kakashi ordered, not stopping to wait for compliance.He raced to catch up with the figure, who both seemed to be in no hurry but also continued on its relentless pace, just out of his reach.

He lunged forward, gathering a final burst of speed and caught a handful of cloth for his trouble.The figure turned on him, its face a monstrosity.Its jaw chattered with malice as it opened up to take a bite out of Kakashi’s face.He twisted his face into a grimace against the reek of the creature’s breath, but there was no stench.This was no man, not even a living creature.As it lunged for the attack, Kakashi could make out whorls of wood on its face. 

A distant part of his brain marked it as an interesting fact, even as he ducked beneath its attack.There was no time for proper analysis.The creature was fast, but Kakashi was faster, lighting crackling under his skin spurring him through the heat of battle. _This_ was what he lived for, what he did best.Not politics, or the bickering of old men.The rush of battle and the weight of a sword in his hand.

But the creature did not seem to care that he was facing one of the youngest Knight-captain’s in Konoha.It met him in battle all the same, it’s wooden form hitting against his blade without concern for pain or injury.For all Kakashi’s training, he had not been prepared for an enemy that did not bear weapons or even try to ward against bodily harm.His sword bit into the wood of his enemy, catching for one long moment before sliding out. 

The cloak that obscured it’s body shifted around its form, revealing gears and levers but nothing that guided it.

The hair on the back of Kakashi’s neck prickled as he considered that sorcery must be behind this.This was the kind of force that King Hiruzen had meant to eradicate with his decree.But if the creature knew that sorcery was illegal here in Konoha, it did not seem to care.

There was no help for it.Kakashi summoned the lightning that was his birthright, wrapping his blade in blue crackling light.He struck again, sliding his sword into the creature without resistance.The stench of hot metal filled the air, but the creature did not react.

Instead, it laughed.It was almost the laugh of a man, deep and rattling with the cutting tones of a sharpening stone on an old blade. 

“Not all of Konoha has forgotten the old ways,” it said, it’s voice as painful to hear as it’s laugh. 

Caught off guard, his sword still hilt deep in the thing, Kakashi had no weapon to parry against its next attack.A massive tail emerged from the cloak, sharp like a scorpion’s and dripping with poisonous intent.Kakashi leaned back to get out of the way but found his back pressed against the stone walls of the hallway. The scorpion tail loomed ominously above him, ready to strike. Kakashi had nowhere to run. 

“Kakashi!” A voice cried out, seconds before a blade appeared out of nowhere, cutting deep into the tail. 

Pinched in on both sides, the creature leaped into the air, clinging to the ceiling like a spider.Sakura stood before him in the absence of the creature, and for a moment the breath left Kakashi’s lungs.She was not dressed for battle, in no armor but a simple red dress with nothing but her sword to defend herself. It was almost painful to see how vulnerable she was.

“It’s not human,” he said, the warning uselessly late as the creature skittered above them. 

“No kidding,” Sakura muttered, lifting her sword as though to defend herself.Kakashi barely caught a glimpse of something dark flash in Sakura’s eyes as she struck the stone wall with her fist.A resounding crack filled the air, and the very foundation below Kakashi’s feet shook. 

The creature tumbled to the ground, shaken by the sudden earthquake.In a vicious clatter it landed at Sakura’s feet.Unease filled Kakashi’s gut, even as he raised his sword to support his former student. He shook off his suspicions, focusing on the task at hand.

Meanwhile, Sakura let out a triumphant shout, raising her sword to face the creature.She showed no fear as she hefted her blade, ready to strike the creature down like some kind of barnyard pest. The Sakura Kakashi had known had been a terrified girl, unprepared for the horrors of the battlefield. Certainly not the fearless young woman before him.She did not waver even as the creature dodged her attack, launching itself along the wall and past them both.Kakashi had hoped he had at least trained his students to wear armor into battle, but he had failed on that account as well.As he took in the confidence with which Sakura moved to pursue the creature something very much like pride stirred in Kakashi’s chest.

It was a feeling he didn’t deserve.

A rusty, repetitive noise filled the hall, unnervingly like laughter. 

“Perhaps the knights of Konoha are not so obsolete,” the creature's voice shuddered off the walls.“Come find me, if you dare.”

The creature bolted, picking up more speed than before as it made its escape.They followed, but it was fruitless.As the creature reached the outside, it dipped into the moat and disappeared.Sakura looked ready to leap into the murky waters to purse, despite her long skirts, but Kakashi put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. 

“We have to find it that thing!” She cried, jaw set in a defiant expression.Kakashi shook his head.

“We alert the watch— but I don’t think they will find anything.”

Even as they spoke, the alarm bells stopped their ringing.Kakashi had been so focused on the action that he had not noticed the noise.The sudden silence was deafening, and the air slowly filled with the shouts of castle residents tallying the wounded and calling for a healer.Without a shared enemy, Kakashi no longer knew what to say to Sakura.She seemed similarly uneasy, as they stood in silence, considering the moat. 

“I’m needed inside,” Sakura said, sheathing her blade at her hip.“I was heading to the wounded in the throne room when we ran into each other.”That must have been why she wasn’t dressed for battle.Healers were not expected to face battle, their skillsets were too useful to risk.But judging by the trick Sakura had pulled in the hallway, she was not entirely unprepared for the possibility.

Sakura patted the dirt off her hands and nodded at him as she walked away. 

“Good work,” Kakashi finally said, the compliment ringing hollow to his own ears. Too little, and too late, he cringed. Still, Sakura paused and flashed a smile at him over her shoulder. 

"Thanks," she said, and the breath caught in Kakashi's lungs at the sight. Her pink hair was lightly ruffled from battle, and somehow she had acquired a smudge of soot along her cheekbone, but he was struck by how she had grown into a full warrior.If she was still interested, Kakashi thought she was past ready to go for full knighthood. 

Just as he was about to collect his thoughts and turn them into something resembling a proper compliment, Sakura turned way again. “It was nice to work with you again,” she said waving a hand in easy dismissal, and something in his chest clenched at the goodbye. 

As she walked away Kakashi could barely make out her voice.If he had not been downwind, the words would have been swallowed by the noise of the castle.

In hindsight, Kakashi almost wished they had been.

“Come find me?” Sakura murmured to herself.“I suppose I will.”


	3. iii. the essence of experience

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for all your comments and for reading! I hope you are enjoying my quarantine project! Let me know if you guys are confused about any plot points or the world! (full disclosure, i am making up most of the details of the world on the fly, based on having read too many Tamora Pierce books ;p)

iii. the essence of experience

The aftermath of the attack was chaos.Sakura had not seen the castle in this much a flurry…ever.She had, perhaps, been too young after Orochimaru’s attack, too focused on her own personal tragedy.Now, as Tsunade’s apprentice and a promising healer, she found herself in the center of the action. 

_The Akatsuki._

The name passed from mouth to mouth, a hushed intone of horror.Sakura could not identify where the name first came from, but she followed the rumors as they spread like wildfire. 

They led her back to Naruto. 

Perhaps it was not a surprise, he had spent the most time outside of the castle and thus had the freshest intel.What Sakura was not expecting was to find Naruto in the center of the throne room, surrounded by the other squires of Konoha.They had grown up together, gone through page training together, but no one had cared about Naruto then.He had been nothing but a scruffy orphan who had made it into the program by the skin of his teeth and absolute determination. 

Now, it seemed she could not catch Naruto alone. 

Naruto was in fine form, completely confident in his circle of supporters.If he shared Sakura’s misgivings about their loyalty he did not show it.Instead, he seemed to be feeding off their energy, huffing orders and swinging a sword around.

“We need to muster a group to go after the attackers,” he was saying, rallying them into action.Sakura’s natural suspicion of Naruto’s fitness to rule faded away slightly— she could not disagree with the need to capture the intruders.

“We’ve seen what they can do,” Naruto continued.“On the border.They attack quickly and leave no survivors.We can’t let that happen here!”He swung his sword a little extra for emphasis, growing more and more agitated with every word. 

_Good._

It had been four years since the day they were meant to first become squires.Four years of training and plotting and _nothing else_.At first, she had expected a party to go after Orochimaru, but in the weeks after Naruto left with Jiraiya Konoha seemed to relax.Only Sakura seemed to remember the attacks daily, even as the council paid lip service to the fallen king. 

Tsunade, for all that Sakura respected her, had not been interested in pursuing her former brother in arms. After months of snipining on Sakura's part, Tsunade had finally confronted her and made her opinions _very_ clear.

_I will not risk good men for a petty_ grudge.

The rebuke still rang sharply in her ears, even as she steeled her shoulders and called out to catch Naruto’s attention.

“Sakura!” Naruto raised a hand and yelled.“What happened to you!”He seemed as cheerful as ever, undeterred by both the attack and Sakura’s insult the previous day. 

Sakura looked down at her now dirty and torn dress. 

“The same thing that happened to you!” She shouted back, gesturing at Naruto’s own singed tunic.Naruto laughed, high on battle and popularity and action. 

“Did you get ‘em?”Naruto asked.Sakura joined the crowd of squires that had attached themself to Naruto. Most of them did not look like they had faced much more than a scuffle. 

It struck Sakura as odd, not to see even the lightest wounds amongst her peers.The second thought hit her that she should be relieved that no one was injured, that death had spared the other squires of her year. 

Knights would be badly needed in Konoha soon and they could not afford to lose any of their future.

“He got away,” Sakura said, grimacing for effect.“Kakashi and I fought one but he escaped into the moat.Yours?”

“The same,” Naruto said.“He flew off on some kind of monster that he summoned.” 

Sakura hissed a breath in. _Sorcery_ , they would say. _See_ , the council would insist, pointing to the attack as irrefutable proof that dark forces were at work.Never mind that if Konoha and its forces didn’t muster the same supposed “dark forces” they would be flattened like common garden pests. 

“They have to be stopped,” Sakura said, “We have to track them down.”

A good knight knew not to leave her post without orders.Sakura dearly wished she could go after the creature immediately, but she needed permission.Tsunade would never grant it, but with Naruto returned…

Oddly, Naruto backed off.She could practically see the battle fervor melt off of him as he lowered his sword.Disappointment twisted in Sakura’s gut like a knife as she realized she had misjudged him.

There would be no immediate permission to chase the attackers, no fervor of movement, and no putting together of plans.Instead, it would be more of the same: deliberation, arguments, politics, and in the end…nothing.

“The Akatsuki,” Naruto said, naming the enemy.“They…” he paused as if judging his words carefully for the first time in his life.“Orochimaru is one of them.” Naruto said it with the care one would normally reserve for delivering news of a death. 

The insinuation was clear, however.

He was trying to protect _her_ feelings.As though he was afraid _she_ would be the one to rush after Sasuke and into a battle she couldn’t handle.As if four years had meant nothing and she was still the crying girl on the rampart, begging Sasuke not to leave. 

“They _attacked the castle,_ ” Sakura said, the words coming out sharper than she intended.She could practically hear Tsunade cringing internally. _Never embarrass a king, Sakura._

It was one of the many political lessons Sakura had been taught, and once again she was throwing it aside.What was it about Naruto that made her so irritable and off-balance?So angry? 

“We have to talk to Tsunade,” Naruto conceded, “we will muster a force and go after them.” 

The way he said _we_ worryingly did not sound like it included her. 

Sakura had so carefully worked to shed the image people had of her, throwing herself into her studies with Tsunade to become a first rate healer.—to make herself indispensable on the battlefield.She had been so caught up in letting people forget about her past that she had almost let them forget she was also a squire, ready for combat at the drop of a hat.

But Naruto should _not_ have forgotten. 

Nor should he still be conceding to the regent.He was the _king._ There had been no time for silly ceremonies and coronations, but that should not mean that Naruto was publicly bowing to Tsunade’s authority.Some part of Sakura that was loyal to her mentor conceded that it was probably wise to let Tsunade lead for now. 

Taking a deep breath, Sakura stopped the torrent of angry desire for action at all costs.She had pushed her luck far enough.Tsunade’s lessons had not gone completely unheeded.Even among the other squires of Konoha, she could not push Naruto much further. 

“We’ll get them, Sakura,” Ino said.Sakura smiled softly at her old rival.This time she sensed that Ino’s language included her. 

For a moment, it was nice to feel like part of the group again.Like the old days.

But that didn’t change what Sakura knew she had to do.

~~~~~~~~~

Sakura cursed softly as the stone clattered down the rampart stairs.The walls were well guarded, as they should be, but so far the guard had their attention turned out on the town, not within the castle walls.If Sakura continued to make too much noise, that would change quickly. 

She paused, her heartbeat lurching in her throat as she waited for the sound of guards shouting an alarm and footfalls racing to her location.

_Just taking a nighttime stroll_ , she would say.It wouldn’t be unusual enough to attract suspicion, but she did not want her departure remembered.Tomorrow, when Sakura did not turn up for morning drills, she did not want anyone to remember that they had seen her leave. 

When nothing came, she let out a sigh of relief, the adrenaline in her body fading away. 

“Good evening, Sakura.”

Kakashi’s voice sent Sakura’s adrenaline shooting back up, with more to spare. 

“You shouldn’t sneak up on people,” Sakura said, reigning in her tone at the last second.How was it that Kakashi had avoided her for the better part of four years, but now, in the last 48 hours, it seemed they couldn’t stop running into each other.

“I don’t mean to sneak,” he said, his voice slightly affronted.She could barely see his expression, between the darkness and the cloth that covered his jaw, but she could tell his one good eye was rounded in feigned innocence.

“Then you frequently take nighttime strolls?”She tried to force her words into the shape of congeniality, to build a narrative where their relationship was easy and unstrained.Where they often ran into each other and made small talk about the weather while taking in the night air. 

“Only when I’m worried about something,” Kakashi said, waving her concerns away.“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?I believe squires are still required to report to drills at dawn.It hasn’t been _so_ long that that’s changed.”

“I had something on my mind,” she lied easily.This conversation was going on too long.A guard might not notice the heavy traveling tunic she wore, or her well-worn riding boots.But Kakashi certainly would. 

“Then perhaps we have something in common,” Kakashi said.He stepped past her, then paused, looking over his shoulder as if waiting for her.

It was an invitation she could not afford to refuse.Immediately, he would know something was afoot and stop her plans in their tracks. 

Cautiously, Sakura followed.“I would be concerned if you were sleeping soundly,” Kakashi said, his voice affable as he led her on a leisurely stroll along the castle walls.“We were attacked today, and if I remember correctly you did fight off some kind of monster.”

“It fled,” Sakura cut in.“Not because of me.”She couldn’t help the bitterness that leaked into her words. But if Kakashi noticed he did not indicate it.Instead, he shrugged, as if to say ‘ _same thing’._

“It’s been four years since the last attack,” he continued.“I seem to remember you doing something drastic after that attack as well.”

“Drastic?Or securing my future?”

It had been in the aftermath of the last attack, and the ensuing confusion that Sakura had pledged herself to the newly arrived Tsunade.Even as Tsunade was taking on her new duties as regent, she had been generous enough to take Sakura under her wing. 

It had been the smartest decision Sakura had ever made.Tsunade had a reputation that could cut through the battlefield, and her arrival as the most powerful lady knight in Konoha’s history had opened opportunities Sakura hadn’t dared to dream of when she was a young page.

Kakashi laughed a slight agreement, and Sakura found her mood souring.

“I’m not the girl you used to know.”Sakura’s shrill voice cut the quiet night air like a knife.“I’m a proper squire, and someday I’ll be a real knight.I know I’m not the future king of Konoha but I’m not-“

_Nothing_.

_I’m not nothing._

She couldn’t say that, couldn’t voice that fear.A traitorous part of her whispered that now he would remember those days, and with the memories, the fragile threads of respect she was building would disappear like so much dust.

Kakashi and Sakura continued to walk in silence, as he led her slowly down the stone stairs of the walls and into the grounds.Without a word, he guided her through the doors to the stables, and Sakura cursed mentally he noted her horse, Shannaro,looked fed and alert.As though Sakura had half prepped for a ride before the night watch began, 

Which was, naturally, exactly what she had done.

Wordlessly Kakashi produced the tack for his own mount. 

“It’s a bit late for a ride, don’t you think?”Sakura helplessly tried to misdirect the man.But Kakashi only handed her Shannaro’s bride and said, “I don’t think your horse agrees.”

Resigned, Sakura began the careful process of preparing her horse for a ride.Defiantly, as she prepared the saddle, Sakura attached her travel pack, filled with what she would need for a several day long journey.She had been so careful, hiding it in the stables after dinner, ready to slip out of the castle unseen with the cover of night.

Kakashi nodded at her as she attached the pack, acknowledging the subtle rebellion.The first bubble of hope floated in her chest.Perhaps he would not stop her. 

When the horses were prepared and Sakura and Kakashi mounted for a ride, he finally spoke.It was small talk, on nothing but the harvest, the rumors amongst the maids and castle staff.The topics seemed carefully studied, like the kind of conversation fodder you learned in etiquette training as a page (not that Kakashi had ever been the one responsible for that training.Sakura privately imagined he had never once attended such classes.How else could he justify reading the filth he did in public and having not a care for things like timeliness and social niceties.

Finally, one they were out of sight of the castle walls, the fabric of the conversation changed. 

“I thought you knew better than this,” Kakashi said, his voice a growled warning.“You were always the cleverest of my students.But this…this is truly a stunt worthy of Naruto.” 

“I resent that,” Sakura fired back, heart sinking.She had worked on this plan all afternoon, but now he was about to ruin it.“What did you expect me to do?”

In the moonlight, Sakura could see Kakashi’s face expression undergo several careful transformations.First, confusion, then surprise, and then finally, the cutting edge of disappointment.She knew his expressions well.Covered though Kakashi kept his face, Sakura had long ago become accustomed to the subtle shifts of Kakashi’s body language.

“I expected you to listen to your orders,” Kakashi said.He continued to lead them on their late-night journey, and perhaps sensing his agitation, Chidori, Kakashi’s black gelding, picked up his pace into a light trot. 

“No one gave me any,” Sakura announced defiantly, nudging Shannaro to keep pace. 

“You know as well as I do that the orders were implicit,” Kakashi hissed. “Tsunade would never want her most promising squire to go racing off into battle, to certain death alone.What good would that do for Konoha?”

“More than all of us idling at home, waiting for the next attack!”

If the moon hadn’t been full, Sakura would have missed the wave of regret that washed over Kakashi’s posture.It was there, just for the briefest instant, before he settled into his usual lazy slouch.It was a move Sakura suspected he only employed when he was truly upset, something he had done repeatedly in training the rambunctious young Naruto and the brooding and acidic Sasuke.Sakura had never been the source of his ire in those days.She had prided herself on being above such childish conflict. 

“Tsunade has no intention of letting that happen.Even if she did, the council wouldn’t allow it.”

"She isn't the queen!" Sakura's voice was a sharp rebuke. "Naruto is supposed to rule. _Allegedly_ , he's the rightful king, _allegedly_ he's going to bring peace to the realm. But instead, he's going to sit back and let Tsunade and the council debate away another chance. He's going to let them politic their way out finding a _solution."_ Her heart was racing as she finished her screed. It was the closest she had come to betraying her true feelings in a long time. 

"Naruto can not seize power yet," Kakashi said. "Did you think _Naruto_ of all people would be able to return and take on the burden of kingship? He isn't you." 

Kakashi's final sentence hung between them in the cool air. Sakura did not know what to say, she was so astonished at the comparison. Even Kakashi seemed to regret his word choice, turning away slightly as if to surveil the landscape. 

“Come with me,” Kakashi said, kicking his horse into a gallop. 

Sakura pursued, wind in her hair as they rode down the dark stone road that led them away from the castle, away from home.Her hair flying in the wind behind her, the repetitive sound of Shannaro’s hooves on the white stone blocks, exhilarated her as it always did.Despite herself, she could feel her anger fading into the usual calm that a fast ride brought her.

_He isn't you._

Was that how Kakashi felt about her? Could it be that he didn't think of her as a cowardly young girl, but as someone competent and intelligent? The thought dizzied her. 

Although, she doubted he still thought of her that way after this stunt.

It seemed they rode for hours, putting miles behind them like they were nothing.Finally, just when Sakura thought they had already ridden further than they could in a day, Kakashi brought his horse to a stop.

Sakura’s calm instantly faded away as she took in the scene before her. 

The village had been burned, the blackened carcasses of houses illuminated by the scornful gaze of the moon.Sakura’s gut churned, in horror that this could happen in Konoha— _her_ Konoha.

“Who did this,” she said, dismounting and racing towards the center of town.Even as the cool, calculating part of her knew it was too late, there was still the chance that someone, anyone could need her healing skills.That somehow she could still save someone here.

“Jiraiya came with news of the attacks yesterday,” Kakashi said cooly, following her into the rubble.He did not try to stop her as she peered into broken windows, looking for survivors.Instead, she found nothing but the same dark shapes lying on the floor and the same sweet stench of rot in every house. 

“Who did this,” Sakura demanded, stopping in the deserted town square.It was barely a town, populated with maybe 10 houses and surrounded by fields on all sides.Less than a day's ride from the capital, it was a small farming village, with nothing in the way of proper military force.

The people here would have defended on Konoha’s forces from the capital to patrol the landscape, keeping bandits and the like away.Instead, they had been undefended. 

The thought churned her stomach.

Perhaps sensing her disgust, Kakashi pointed at the figures in the square, lying unburied.“Look closer, Sakura,”he said.

These dead were different, they wore the colors of Konoha’s castle, had swords at their hilt, still sheathed.It was as though they had died before they could even think to defend themselves.

“The Akatsuki did this,” Sakura said.“Naruto said they left no survivors, but I didn’t think…”

_The could massacre us s_ o _close to home._

“This is what we are up against,” Kakashi said.“You think that creature worked alone?Everything we’ve heard about the group is that they are vicious.Unrelenting.A gang of rogue knights and sorcerers, practicing black magic and slaughtering civilians. They would have an untested squire like you dead in an instant.”

Sakura did not protest.Even what she had learned from Tsunade would be nothing if she faced a group of them. 

A rush of shame flushed her cheeks.She had been so brash, packing up and ready to go: the triumphant hero, ready to ride into the countryside and vanquish evil without a moment’s thought. 

While Sakura stewed, Kakashi was tying his horse to a post.“I have to admire your courage,” he said, and Sakura could not sense a trace of sarcasm in the compliment.“It’s what I would have done, as a squire.”A flush rose in her cheeks at the words.Kakashi had never been a cruel mentor when she was a page.But that did not mean compliments came freely.They had to be earned.

The second compliment in one day. She wasn't sure what to do with the words, so Sakura tucked them away to consider later.

“So you won’t report me to Tsunade,” Sakura replied ruefully.Disobedience could get a squire barred from knighthood.A knight’s first duty was to the Realm, and to fulfill that mandate, a knight had to serve the Realm.Not decide for herself where justice should be handled. 

Kakashi did not make an assurance either way but surprised Sakura once again as he began hitching her own horse to a post beside Chidori. 

“There’s nothing we can do here,” she said.“I’ve already looked.”

“We can bury them,” Kakashi replied, producing two shovels from a nearby shed.“Sometimes, that’s all you can do.”


	4. iv. faultless figures of virtuous discourse

iv. faultless figures of virtuous discourse

Kakashi, despite his better judgment, did not report Sakura.There didn’t seem to be a point in getting her in trouble.She had learned her lesson after a long night spent burying the Akatsuki’s victims.It had been educational for Kakashi as well—he had not known how troubled she had been in the aftermath of Naruto’s first departure.

No, that wasn’t true.

He had chosen not to see how troubled she was in the aftermath of Naruto’s departure. 

When Kakashi hadn’t been paying attention, she had grown up.It had been easy to write her off, in the early days of training the trio of them.Truthfully, he had written all three of them off, until it became clear that Naruto and Sasuke could both be a safety hazard without proper supervision.

And so Sakura had slipped through the cracks, and grown into a proper knight. _Squire._ He had to keep reminding himself that she was not a full knight yet.Although to see her, confidently stride into a ruin, looking for survivors, pink hair haloed about her and sword in hand, anyone would think that she was a true-blooded knight of Konoha.Braver, even, than most of the fighters already sworn into service.

She would be fearsome someday, facing Konoha’s enemies.Be it as a medic or ready for the front lines, he could see it now: Sakura in plate armor, sword in hand as she charged into the battlefield-

“You’re distracted.”Tsunade’s voice cut through his thoughts sharp-edged and demanding. 

Yes, of course, he was distracted.He was in the middle of the second day of strategy meetings after a night spent burying the dead with his former student. 

How could he not be distracted? 

Never mind that his thoughts were not on strategy, not even a little.

“Hardly” Kakashi lied.“I’m just allowing you all to reach your decisions.As usual, I will be there to implement them once the council can agree.”

Tsunade raised her eyebrows in exasperation, leaned back in her chair, and uncorked a bottle of rice wine before the noon bell had even rung. 

“If you weren’t distracted,” she purred, “you would know we’ve already reached a decision.”

_Shit._

“Ah,” Kakashi said.

“Ah indeed,” Tsunade mocked.“In their infinite wisdom, it seems the council has chosen to host a tournament.”

Kakashi leaned forward, already tired of what was the ensue. 

“As in-“

“Yes, jousting and fanfare and trumpets.”Tsunade cut him off.“It seems that our new king requires a champion before he can be crowned.”

From the ire radiating off of Tsunade, Kakashi could tell that she was as angry about this decision as he would be… once the stubborn reality of it ever sank in. 

“Can’t he just _pick?_ ” Kakashi blurted out.“He would know who best to choose—hell, I’m sure he can fight his own battles.”

“It’s tradition,” Danzo cut Kakashi off.“And it would restore the people’s faith in Naruto.” Not _King_ Naruto, Kakashi noticed.From the smug way he spoke, Kakashi could see he was the ringleader of this scheme.Behind him, several other council members nodded their heads in agreement, although Kakashi could see Inoichi Yamanaka scowling.As spymaster, he would never feel comfortable with such a large event while Konoha was practically under siege.

That was the problem with a tournament.It would bring audiences and competitors, even foreign ones eager to join the court of Konoha or test an unbloodied young king.So many cracks to slip through, and it would be Kakashi and Inoichi’s jobs to make sure no one took advantage of them. 

Which, if the laws of tournament were to be adhered to, would be impossible.

Kakashi put his head in his hands and sighed.Perhaps Sakura had been right about the bickering of politicians.If this continued much longer, _he_ would be riding off to hunt the Akatsuki alone. 

Suddenly, facing down black magic seemed a lot more appealing.

~~~~~~~~~

Kakashi had not been surprised to see Sakura on the lists, nor had he been surprised to see her win her first joust.Jousting was a precision sport, perfect for a fighter like Sakura.When she was his student, she had excelled at training exercises that required control and strategy.As he watched her joust, it suddenly struck him as strange that he had not made her the center of his focus as a student.She rode like she was born for horseback, and each time she unseated an opponent, he could see the self-satisfaction in her posture. 

She loved this.

He had been a damned fool not to see it when she was a page. Naruto and Sasuke had simply outshone her with their rivalry.It had not helped that Sasuke had been a prodigy with the sword, trained from childhood to be a scion of the Uchiha family, practically a storm made into a boy, even in the early days.Nor had it helped, that Naruto was the rightful king, for all that only Kakashi and a handful of others had known in those days.

But today, as Sakura climbed the lists, winning joust one after another, he could not tear his eyes away from her.It was as she unseated Rock Lee in her final match, with a thundering gallop and a single well-timed strike on his shield, that Kakashi realized she could win this. 

She could be named Naruto’s champion.

It had a nice symmetry to it, in the end.The responsibility would ground Sakura, and she would spend less time charging into danger alone.She would compliment Naruto nicely as well.A champion was meant to represent the king in duels, to face down his enemies when the full weight of the crown’s power was called for.Even as pages, Naruto and Sakura had balanced each other out.Where Naruto was fearless, he also had a reckless streak that sent him charging into fights he couldn’t win.Sakura was the one who always had the plan.As his champion, Sakura could satisfy her need for action, but also be there to ensure that Naruto’s will was executed reasonably. 

Her experience as Tsunade’s squire would be a boon as well.

“Your student is doing well, Kakashi,” Might Guy said beside him.His old friend did not sound as pleased about the revelation as Kakashi felt. 

“Neji’s also headed to the final rounds,” Kakashi said.It would be a close match between he and Sakura.Kakashi had not seen Sakura fight with a sword in years, but he couldn’t imagine that Tsunade had not drilled the young woman into excellence.Neji was similar to Sasuke: strict noble family, natural talent, all combined into one deadly combination.

The thing that would separate them would be Sakura’s drive to win.

“Unfortunately,” Guy demurred.“I have a bad feeling about their competition.Someone Danzo’s put forth, a squire named Sai is up for the final round.And a fourth.Foreign.Declined to provide a coat of arms, ”

That wasn’t unusual at events like these.In a kingdom as large as Konoha, with a labyrinth of noble families slipping in and out of favor at court, tournaments were the perfect opportunity to reclaim a slice of the old honor.Knights from other courts, out of favor with they’re home liege, were known to compete for places at tournaments such as these.It was a security risk that Kakashi could not demand identities in advance, tradition kept its iron grasp on Konoha.

Glumly, Kakashi scanned the crowd.He could see the unfamiliar Sai, caring for a jet black horse, in the back.He looked clever like he showed up for fights after having learned every detail he could, from his opponent’s fighting style to what they ate for breakfast. 

As Champion, Sakura would have to face such opponents in the future.She couldn’t expect to face down only people she had trained with for years.This would be a test for her adaptability. 

But still, something unnerved Kakashi about the boy.Nor was he comforted by Guy’s sudden chilliness.Guy was known for his eternal optimism and his enthusiasm for the challenges of youth.Kakashi had expected him to be elated at the prospect of fresh challengers to test the Konoha Squires.At one point, he had challenged Kakashi to an all-night series of sword fights— the first to collapse of exhaustion was the loser.(Kakashi, for the record, had won). 

“It shouldn’t be a surprise that Danzo’s sponsored a squire,” Kakashi said, his voice low. 

“It likely means nothing good, either,” Guy replied. 

Might Guy had a point. 

Kakashi bid his goodbyes to his old rival and slipped out of the stands. 

It was a bright day, the kind of sunny weather meant for streaming banners and celebratory trumpets.But somehow, Guys misgivings alone had cast a shadow on the tournament.They had rung too true.Kakashi had forgotten himself, had forgotten the security risks, had forgotten what was at stake.

He had been distracted. 

Distracted by a girl on a horse, riding merrily into victory.

As Knight-Captain of the Konoha guard, Kakashi had certain privileges, including unlimited access to those who pulled the strings of power.As former mentor to the king, his privileges triplicated, allowing him the ability to go anywhere unquestioned.

Kakashi approached the pavilion that the King Naruto sat on.He was barely a monarch- without a champion, a proper coronation could not take place.And although it was Naruto who took pride of place, it was well known that he did not yet have any of the other kinds of pride that went with kingship.As Kakashi approached the Naruto, it was clear the king was dissatisfied with this arrangement.

Naruto sat in the middle of the wooden platform, flanked by Iruka and Ebisu.He slouched in his high backed chair, his shirt half undone, and wore nothing more formal than a pair of dark leather breeches.His face was wrenched in a familiar-looking scowl—the scowl he had worn as a page when asked to do such glamorous tasks as mucking out the stables and rounding up the castle chickens.Sir Jiraiya was noticeably absent. 

“They wouldn’t let me fight,” Naruto moaned at the sight of Kakashi.

“That would defeat the point, your majesty,”Kakashi replied.“Imagine the scandal if you had won your own tournament.Who would be your champion then?”

Naruto’s head lolled back in a massive exasperated sigh.“Not you too,” he moaned.“Everyone’s been calling me that stupid title.I swear the only person who treats me normally these days is Sakura.At least she’s not afraid to slap me across the face.”

A smile quirked on Kakashi’s face, hidden by his mask where no one could see.“You are the king,” Kakashi said, leaning along the wooden railing.“Would you like me to bow and scrape for your entertainment as well?I’m not very good at it.”

“When Jiraiya and I were in the woods, he went on an on about danger.Danger from war, danger from assassination, danger from dying of disease, danger from sieges.I thought he was right when we first got here.But I’m starting to think the only danger I’m in is of dying of boredom.”

“There _was_ an attack on the castle yesterday,” Kakashi replied drolly.

“And fifteen different guards jumped to my defense.I can fight for _myself.”_

In some ways, as foolhardy as his old student was, Kakashi felt bad for him.

Naruto had not set out to be king.He had wanted nothing more than to be a knight of the realm (the greatest knight _in the history of Konoha_ , as he had announced repeatedly).Instead, he had wandered into a generations-long plot by nothing more than a quirk of his parentage and unwittingly stumbled into the most coveted position in the kingdom. 

“Don’t worry,” Kakashi said.“I’m sure someone will try to kill you eventually.” 

Naruto sat up straighter, almost cheered by the thought.“I’ll be ready,” Naruto promised.Kakashi had to stifle a laugh at the sight of the boy king of Konoha, desperate for some adventure.Just as Kakashi was about to turn away, Naruto stood.He stepped away from his guards and lowered his voice. 

“I don’t plan on waiting here forever,” he said.“I still have to find Sasuke.”

This was the second crack in Kakashi’s good cheer for the day.

Kakashi bid Naruto his goodbyes.He thought about asking who Naruto was rooting for, but taking a second glance at the boy, he figured it was a pointless question.Naruto’s sunny disposition prevented him from ever really enjoying competition amongst his friends (unless it was a competition against the currently traitorous Sasuke). 

As he turned the corner and back into the crowd, a flutter of rich purple fabric caught his eye, like the swirl of a cloak around a corner. In a crowd like today's, that he even noticed it at all was unusual, but Kakashi decided to trust the instincts screaming at him to follow.Perhaps it was something baked into his training as Knight-Captain of the Guard, or it was just a symptom of his suspicious nature, but Kakashi found himself following the flutter of fabric. 

Just as he began to think he was losing his mind, Kakashi caught sight now familiar sight of Danzo’s slumped shoulders, clad in a rich purple fabric.Picking up his pace, Kakashi followed the figure as he wound his way through the crowds of spectators.

He finally stopped when Danzo slipped into the cool shade of the tents where fighters were meant to wait for their next bout.This late in the spectacle, fighters were not allowed to interact, or watch each other's match.They could only listen to the heralds and wait. 

Kakashi stilled, letting his breath slow and waited.

“You’ve made it to the final round.”This was Danzo, his familiar grating rattle instantly setting Kakashi’s teeth on edge.“Good.You know what to do next.”

“Anything short of victory is unacceptable.”Kakashi did not know this voice, but he could only assume it belonged to Sai, the unknown variable. 

“Do what you must,” Danzo said.“Your first opponent is close to the King.Eliminate her.”

Every inch of Kakashi stilled at those words.

“I thought killing was forbidden.”Sai sounded vaguely confused as though processing the order.

“Accidents do happen,” Danzo said.“But no, I don’t mean kill the girl.But it would not be a tragedy if her career as a knight was…cut short.She is too volatile and too close to that witch to be trusted.It is not good for the realm.”

“I understand,” Sai assented.

Danzo outranked Kakashi by several orders of magnitude, he could not simply bring forth an accusation that he wanted to kill Sakura.Without evidence, it would be Kakashi’s word against Danzo’s.Naruto may believe his old mentor, but the Council would not.Nor would they particularly care about the injuries of one squire, gained fairly in the heat of battle.

 _Sakura should have been able to stop him in the match_ , they would say. _If not, what good would she be to Konoha as a knight anyway?_ No, Kakashi would have to find another way to stop this. 

As he watched from the shadows, first Danzo, then Sai slipped out of the tent.Kakashi gave him another look, taking his lean height and the confidence with which he prepared for his final match.This was no unbloodied squire, for all that he had never been properly knighted.Something about Sai’s posture screamed of subterfuge and deadly intent. 

Kakashi may have had faith in Sakura’s training when faced with squires of similar experience, but he did not need to see Sai fight to know what was coming. 

It was the final blow to Kakashi’s good mood for the day. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, it's a bit of a short one! Question:for the next one, would you guys want a really long chapter with lots of tension/sword-fighting/tension/sword-fighting or would you like me to break it up into shorter chunks? (like much shorter). Is there a limit to how much sword-fighting should be in a chapter?


	5. v. the ill-made knight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the comments, you guys! I really appreciated getting the feedback, and accordingly, here is a loooong chapter of swordfights!

**v. the ill-made Knight**

The tent that housed combatants felt crowded, for all that there were only three occupants.Sakura clenched and unclenched her fist, testing the leather of her glove.Unlike jousting, which demanded precision and control (two areas she excelled at), proper dueling offered a host of dangers.She had not excelled with the sword the way Naruto and Sasuke had when they were pages, and even years later memories of those shameful early days haunted her. 

Neji had also made it to the final round, which did not surprise her.His technique, be it in the saddle or on the training field, was the definition of precise and in control.He would make a formidable opponent in the final round, of that she had no doubts. 

But before she could fight Neji, she had to face an unknown. 

The dark-haired boy known only as Sai sat across from her, watching her carefully.He was slight, with a face made for cruel smiles and mocking laughs.Like ice that refused to melt, Sai had shaken her hand and made an admiring remark about her jousting technique. 

Then: “How unusual for a maid to make it this far—shouldn’t you be in the stands handing out favors to the victors?”Sakura’s ice had run cold, and Sai’s smile had not slipped an inch as she had grasped his handshake with all her strength.

“I don’t see anyone worth my favor,” she hissed.“Do you?”Sakura was known for her strength, and any of the other Konoha squires would have flinched under her grasp.She gripped tighter for a moment, testing his reaction.His smile did not slip from its pasted on position.Relenting, Sakura released him.It would do no good to be disqualified for breaking her opponent’s hand in the rest period. 

She imagined what it would be like to destroy him on the field.Satisfying, she thought, to see the confidence fade away in that look.She had no intention of losing this tournament.She had been Naruto’s squadmate during the exams to promote from page to squire.Many in Konoha still remembered her as the tearful young girl trailing behind Naruto and Sasuke.On bad days, Sakura herself still saw that girl crying in the mirror. 

She was eager to shatter that image. 

Trumpets sounded, summoning the next round of fighters into the ring.Neji would fight next.Sakura slipped out of the tent to follow, although it was technically a violation of the rules.They were to face their final matches with as little information as possible, but this was a formality. She knew Neji's technique perfectly well. A few extra moments would not give her an unearned advantage in their final bout. 

“That’s cheating,” Kakashi’s voice cut through the air.Sakura froze, caught in her crime.

“Excuse me?” She feigned ignorance. 

“No one knows the rules like you, Sakura,” Kakashi sighed.“Don’t play coy.”Her cheeks flushed at the accusation. 

“I should be allowed to study my opponents,” she protested despite the fact that this was against the spirit of the rules. 

“A true champion won’t get the chance to study their opponents,” Kakashi replied pedantically.“Besides, that’s what I came to speak to you about—I think you should withdraw.”

For a moment, rage struck Sakura silent. 

“And give up?” she hissed finally. There would be no reason to do such a thing...unless he had no confidence in her. Unless he thought she was about to make a fool of herself in the battlefield. 

Kakashi knew her better than anybody, had been the first person to train her with a sword. For a moment, a panic voice fluttered through her. 

_If he doesn’t think I could win…if he still thinks I’m a joke…_

Sakura had not shared her misadventure with anyone.It felt private in some way, something to tuck away and consider alone.It had felt, strangely, like the start of some new chapter. 

Now that feeling had come crashing down, replaced by a cold fury that coursed through her veins. 

“That’s not it,” Kakashi growled, pulling her further away from the entrance.Sai, her next competitor, was watching the exchange with interest.Kakashi noticed her gaze and pulled her out the other side of the tent, away from prying eyes.“Something’s afoot,” he said, gesturing to where Sai sat in wait om the other side of the canvas.“There is reason to believe your opponents don’t have the correct…spirit of competition.”

“So we should let one of them win, and it doesn’t matter who ends up Champion?”Sakura arched one brow at her former mentor.Kakashi did not answer her.

“I’m not quitting,” she said.“I’m going to win.”The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.Not once had she dared to voice the intention aloud. 

Sakura was a girl prone to being forgotten, to being pushed aside in favor of other, stronger students.Many still remembered her, prone to tears, head full of dreams about a boy she could never have.No one would take her seriously if she claimed her victory in advance.

No, it was far better to let her opponents underestimate her. 

“You’ll be lucky to make it out of the next few rounds _alive_ ,” Kakashi said, throwing weight behind his words.He leaned over her, pressing her backwards towards the canvas of the tent.He was still taller than her, but he no longer towered over her the way he had when she was a page.Instead she was only inches from his face, and able to glare effectively up at him.It occurred to her then, that he wasn’t actually that much older than she, only a handful of years.Not even a decade stood between them.She had never examined him this closely before, to notice that his skin was smooth and unblemished, that he suddenly looked barely older than the last crop of squires, who had been knighted barely a year ago.

_He_ could very well be in the running to be Naruto’s champion, had he decided to compete. 

“I’m supposed to be a knight,” she shot back.“Risking my life is part of the job.” 

What she didn’t say was that there was more at stake here—although she wasn’t arrogant enough to imagine she was the only one considering Naruto’s safety. _She_ had more at stake here.Becoming Champion would do more than fix her reputation, it would secure her a position at court forever. 

_I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve,_ Sakura wanted to say.But she couldn’t afford to cast suspicion on her future victories.It would do no good if Kakashi thought she had cheated in some way.

After their adventure, Sakura would have said that she…trusted him somehow.That burying the Akatsuki’s victims had brought them closer together in a way that her years as a page never had. 

Now, all of that was gone. 

“You don’t understand,” Kakashi said.As he spoke, he reached out.One long hand gripped her wrist as if to stop her.The hold was firm but gentle, and Sakura was struck by how warm he felt, even through the leather of her cloth of her wrist guards.The touch surprised her, and it seemed to surprise Kakashi as well because he didn’t finish the thought.She glared into his one dark eye, cheeks flushing in fury and at a loss for words. 

The air shattered with trumpets.Neji’s match was over.The moment over, Sakura wrenched her wrist from Kakashi’s grasp.With one glance at Neji’s posture as she returned to the tent, she could tell he had lost.For a moment, Sakura thought Kakashi might be right—Neji was one of the most talented squires in the kingdom, well on his way to full knighthood. 

A deep breath.And then another.It didn’t matter what Kakashi didn’t think she understood.Sakura was a squire of Konoha.She would face battle anyway. 

* * *

When the trumpets sounded, Sai stood on the other end of the ring.His grip on his sword was loose as Sakura charged him.Almost lazily, he brought his wooden blade up to meet her first swing.Their blades met, and Sakura backed away, out of range for a counterattack.

He was quick, she would give him that. 

Sakura moved into the next attack, anticipating Sai’s block.Again he met it, that confident smile unmoving on his face.But Sakura was faster than she looked, and she threw extra force behind the move, forcing Sai to buckle slightly under her weight.It was a trick Tsunade had taught her, to take advantage of the assumption that she couldn’t back her strikes up with any force. 

As Sai moved, she kicked, aiming for his stomach.It was a dirty trick, but not grounds for disqualification.Sai barely dodged, his guard crumpling as he pulled himself out of the range of her attacks.

Her balance shifted, and before she could fully right herself, Sai was on her with an attack of his own. Sakura barely had time to bring her blade up to guard her face.With a thrust, she pushed him away.For a satisfying moment, Sakura caught a glimpse of the surprise on his face: she had thrown more force behind the blow than he thought possible.Saw skid backwards, bracing himself against the wooden fence surrounding the ring,

Spectators stood on bleachers around them, shouting down their approval or dismay at the surprises of the matches.Sakura didn’t have time to take in more than that as she swung at Sai again, launching an attack from above.This time when he raised his blade to hit her, she feinted, sliding past his block and swinging back around for a solid hit to the chest.

It struck. 

Not enough to win the match—but it was a point on her ledger.She only needed 4 more strikes to win, or she could earn her victory by disarming her opponent. 

Sai’s next blow hit her before she realized what had happened. It stuck her soundly on the side of the head, the flat of his blade colliding with her helmet.Ears ringing, Sakura lunged back, cursing herself for underestimating his damned speed. 

A head strike earned him two points-taking the lead on her.

Sai also lept back, rather than engaging her head-on.She could still see him smirking at her from beneath his helmet.Raging at herself, at her opponent, at Kakashi for distracting her before the match, she swung again.This time the speed propelled her fast enough to take another clean strike at him. 

Point—they were tied.

But Sakura didn’t slow.Balancing herself evenly along her stance, she slipped the sword out of his attempted block and hit again, this time lunging at him and hitting him with her shoulder.The force of her body sent him sprawling to the ground.Another dirty trick, but hardly her worst. 

Sai made eye contact with her as he fell, the look of surprise melting away into something much more guarded.Respect, possibly.Sakura didn’t have time to let her thoughts linger.She took advantage of her downed opponent, moving to stop him.

Sai rolled out of the way quickly, clearly undismayed by her use of rather unchivalrous moves.Tsunade was unique amongst mentors, a history of dodging gambling debts had left her with a preference for disregarding the rules of duels and knights in favor of an easy victory.It was a lesson she had passed down to Sakura. Another of the Konoha squires might have been unable to adapt, but wherever Sai had trained, he had been prepared for grappling and street-brawling. 

As Sai lurched to his feet, his usual easy smile slipped off his face.He rushed her, and Sakura brought her blade up just in time to stop the blow.Sai leaned in, their faces nearly touched.He slid his blade until it hit Sakura’s, hilt to hilt.A sure contest of strength. 

Confidence flushed through her veins.Sakura was sure she could easily overpower the slight boy in front of her.But there was no concern in Sai’s gaze.Only a brief flash of anger, before sliding into an utterly blank expression.

Sakura threw all of her weight behind her sword, forcing Sai to take a step back, and then another.If she could only force his wrist to bend, he would be disarmed by sheer torque. As she pressed down on him, she could see the telltale bend in his grip, promising her a victory.Just as she felt the first rush of triumph, their blades slid.Sakura’s came down in a heavy arc, a swing Sai side-stepped easily.She braced herself for him to retaliate, but the blow never came.

Sai’s own blade had clattered to the ground. 

“It seems I’ve lost,” he said, arms outstretched for the crowd.Sakura came back to herself, realizing that the audience- the other squires of Konoha, nobles of the realm, even Naruto was cheering her name.A chant, _Sakura, Sakura, Sakura_ over and over again like a heartbeat.The fight had narrowed her focus so tightly that she had forgotten anyone had been there to witness it.It would have been exhilarating another time.

If she had claimed a true victory. 

Sakura stepped forward, hand outstretched.She did not question Sai’s easy handshake, nor the herald declaring her the official victor. 

But has she turned, she locked eyes with Kakashi in the front row.Even with the lower half of his face obscured, she could see the grim set of his expression.He was not applauding with the rest of them.He had seen what the crowd had missed- Sakura had not applied enough force to disarm her opponent.Sai should still have been able to strike back, should have been able to keep a solid grasp on his sword.Instead, it had fallen away, as if by coincidence.

There was only one possible explanation. 

Sai had thrown the match.

* * *

Sakura was alone as she prepared for the final round.Tsunade had other duties to attend to, and could not be there for her squire as she prepared for possibly the most important duel of her life.Ino had offered to help her prepare (basic tasks: checking armor, polishing helmets) but Sakura had waved her away.As a rule, Sakura preferred to center herself before a fight.

As her nerves threatened to overtake her, she began to regret her choice. 

There was a part of her that had not anticipated getting this far. The match with Sai had thrown her confidence even further—who _was_ he and why had he thrown the match?Sai had been a strong opponent, and she suspected he had been holding back throughout their fight. The knowledge only added to her humiliation. 

Why would a strange fighter appear to compete in Konoha’s greatest tournament only to throw the match mere _inches_ from the final round?Surely there was more to gain with a victory than with a defeat.Sakura polished her helmet with scouring sand, as though she could polish away her misgivings.

Her fingers clenched around the helmet.Her fingers began to cramp as the blood fled her knuckles, but she continued.One hand grasping the helm, the other hand scouring and scouring and scouring. 

It was here Kakashi found her, fingers red from friction and teeth chewing into her bottom lip. 

“Why do this?” he asked, appearing as if out of nowhere from behind.It took all of Sakura’s training not to jump with surprise at the sudden voice. 

“Are you still trying to convince me to quit?” She didn’t look up from her work until Kakashi leaned down and plucked the helmet from her hands.It had been a gift from Tsunade, her first proper set of armor.The steel was light and flexible, an extremely expensive piece of smith work.At first Sakura had grimaced when she realized that when polished, the metal took on the faintest pink sheen.Now she appreciated it--the touch of dramatic personalization perfect for showy affairs like tournaments. 

Kakashi seemed to examine the piece, not meeting her eyes.“I already see that I can’t,” he said.When he finally did look down at her, there was none of the condescension she expected.If anything he seemed…tormented.Sakura couldn’t find a better word for the twist in his gaze, and it made Sakura’s heart clench. 

Kakashi sat beside her, handing the helmet back.“I’ve seen your next opponent fight,” he said, his voice heavy. 

“Let me guess,” Sakura cut in, gut twisting.“You think he’s going to win.”

Kakashi’s silence slid into her deeper than any knife.The name of her opponent had been unfamiliar when she saw it on the lists, and unlike Sai, he had declined to linger in the tent for competitors. 

“Why come here then?” she asked, frustration simmering.“Just to see how far you can push me?So I go out there convinced I’ll lose, and then what? Prove you right?”

Kakashi put a hand on her thigh, silencing her.It was the second time he had touched her that day, and this time, despite her nerves, despite her anger, the heat of his hand burned through her. 

“Why do this, Sakura.” This time, it wasn’t a question. 

“If anyone is going to be Naruto’s champion, it should be me,”Sakura said it flatly, as though this were a matter of duty and service to the realm and nothing else.“Not some other page who doesn’t _really_ know him, and certainly not some stranger who rode in at the right moment.It was always meant to be me.”

_It should have been Sasuke,_ a traitorous voice inside of her insisted. _If you had only gotten him to stay, it should have been Sasuke to sit at Naruto’s right hand._

But Sasuke was gone.He had fled with Orochimaru in the attacks at the end of the exams to become a squire.Instead of the triumphant ceremony Sakura had imagined since she was a girl, there had been chaos and grieving at the death of the old king. 

And worse—the shame at having let Sasuke slip away, chasing power and revenge.He had tossed away his ties to Konoha, his squad…everything. 

Sakura had loved him, in those days.In some ways, the old passion still burned in her, for an impossible dream.The heat that rose in her cheeks, the old shame at having been nothing but a love-addled girl, brought her back to the current moment.To preparing for her final match, alone.

Not quite alone—Kakashi was here.Kakashi, her old mentor, who had been too focused on Naruto and Sasuke to ever _truly_ train her in knighthood.Who, even after their departures, had avoided her as she sought out other avenues for power.She searched his expression for any kind of encouragement, any kind of teacherly pride, and found nothing.

Instead, she saw a young man, barely older than she, the barest shadow of anguish in his gaze.Had they always been this close in age?Or had she simply grown up, and seen that adults are not mythical, out of reach experts.That they were as lost as she felt, with no real power over her.She did the math in her head, realizing he had been only a few years older than she was now when first foisted with their little squadron of chaos.In those days he had been an impossible signpost to reach, seemingly decades ahead of her. 

There was a new balance to their relationship, one she didn’t know how to face.As she scanned his face, she could only ask herself _why?_ Why take her out in the middle of the night to show her the tragedy of the Akatsuki?Why try to stop her before her next match? 

As the dawn light had risen over Kakashi and Sakura, alone in a desolate graveyard, she thought she could see something in his eyes that mirrored respect, and for a moment the barest flourish of desire had risen in her chest, delicate and strange. 

His hand still rested on her thigh. 

“My match is going to start soon,” Sakura said, no longer sure how to act.No longer her teacher, Sakura had no idea how to place Kakashi in her life.She imagined he felt the same, which she (generously) assumed explained his absence in her life over the last two years.

“You don’t have anyone to check your armor?”Kakashi said, concern a sharp surprise along his features. 

“I can handle it,” she insisted.She stood, strapping her breastplate on and preparing her sword.Unbidden, Kakashi put his hand on her shoulders.“Let me,” he said, and Sakura did not resist as he tightened the straps of her armor. 

He was meticulous as he ran his fingers along the edges of her shoulder plates, checking the buckles along the sides of her torso, tightening a leather strap here, adjusting a plate of metal there.Sakura was glad that he stood behind her, unable to see her face as it flushed.The breath caught in her chest when his long fingers ran along the side of her neck, testing the tension of her steel breastplate where it met her shoulders. 

“You should be ready for anything,” he said, his lips suddenly close to her ear, hot breath caressing her skin. 

“Thank you,” she said, the words oddly strangled as they left her lips.He had asked her to quit, had, in essence, told her he had no faith in her abilities-- a slap in the face. But now, as she stood ready to face her final match, he was the one companion at her back.Unnervingly, she found that she trusted him.That she liked him near her. 

Before she could say any more and risk embarrassing herself, the trumpets sounded calling her to battle.Stepping away from Kakashi, Sakura shed the strangeness of the moment and the flutter in her chest. 

As she slipped through the canvas separating them from the rest of the world, Kakashi clasped one hand around her upper arm.

“Any final words,” Sakura asked, slipping her helmet on.

“It was always meant to be you,” Kakashi replied.“Crush him.” 

She smiled, buoyed by the sudden expression of faith in her, and stepped out into the ring.

The sudden light of the sun temporarily blinded her, as the herald shouted out their introductions.Sakura barely heard him as he reminded everyone that it was Sakura who had faced her page years with Naruto, before anyone had known he would be the future king of Konoha. 

And soon it would be Sakura who was his champion.

Her opponent had no back story-not even a face.He had declined to raise the visor of his helmet for the introduction, and Sakura relished the thought of popping it off his head, revealing his identity to everyone as she took her victory.His only defining feature was the dark armor he wore, a few shades darker than normal steel.Something about it set Sakura’s skin to crawling, as though she could feel malevolent intent lurking beneath it.

With a deep breath as the trumpet sounded, Sakura struck first, aiming for speed and strength.She couldn’t let her past mistakes with Sai get the better of her here.She had to get the upper hand quickly. 

But unlike Sai, Sakura could not slide past this unknown knight’s defenses.He was taller, faster, and judging from the way he lashed out with his blade, stronger than she.Sakura had to move quickly to get her blade up in time, and her right arm went numb with the force of catching his blade.She slid her ankle out to disrupt his stance, but her opponent slid handily by. 

The exchange of blows was quick, too quick for Sakura to get a feel for his fighting style.Despite the speed, on some instinctual level Sakura matched his blade blow for blow, just as her opponent could match her own.It was almost as if he could predict her moves—as if they had fought before. 

This could not last.She could feel herself tire under the merciless pace.The match with Sai and the tempest of her emotions had drained her. 

But the onslaught continued: strikes one after the other.Sakura rose to meet each one, pushing more and more force behind each blow. 

Somehow, Sakura got the sense that her opponent was surprised by the force and ferocity in her.Sakura’s delicate pink armor and feminine appearance were meant to do just that, to lull the opponent into believing she was nothing more than a foolish girl, an easy victory.

A trickle of sweat beaded down her opponent’s jaw, and Sakura grinned.She was not the only one beginning to tire.With renewed confidence, Sakura swept into a series of moves she had drilled for years; an easy training pattern meant to mimic the shape of a blossom.Any page would have learned it, but when executed perfectly, it was difficult to block.The pattern, although predictable, was meant to strike from three different directions, and with enough practice could be done too fast for an opponent to even raise their arm to catch the second blow.

Sakura had practiced it daily for over five years; since Kakashi had first shown it to them as pages.

On the second arc of her blade, her attack struck her opponent’s breastplate.The third hit him off the side of his helmet. 

Three points. 

With two more points Sakura would be the winner.

Moving directly into her next attack, Sakura swung, aiming for her opponent’s shoulder.He would be expecting a head strike—an easy victory at this point. 

Instead her sword clanged uselessly to the side.Her fingers went numb at the impact, as it would for any attack, but the numbness swept up her arms.

It was unnatural, like….like lightning.

Tsunade had taught her how to throw up a guard, in case she was met with an opponent sorcerer.It was the kind of trick that no one in the audience would be able to detect unless they knew what to look for.In such a high profile setting, it was a risk—the Hyuga clan was known for seeing sorcery in the aura of magic users— but it would be a worse risk to face an unknown opponent willing to use lightning like a toy in the middle of a grand tournament.

She could just barely see her opponent grin, flashing perfectly straight white teeth before she raised her sword to block his blow. 

He must have expected to face more opposition, because his strike was easily swept away.She stepped back, weighing her options.She could take the risk of using magic to end this, enhancing her strength to disarm her enemy with a flick of her wrist. 

Such a trick would be obvious to the audience, Hyuga or not.But she could not afford the risk of letting this continue—there was more than her role as champion at stake.

Unease roiling within her, Sakura blocked her opponent's next attack, ceding the offense to earn herself more time to consider her options.

Still, her opponent's strikes were familiar, as though she had drilled against them for years.Where Sai had been unpredictable, this opponent fought with a rhythm that spoke of practiced drills and perfected technique.It was a classic way to fight, drilled into squires in Konoha and abroad from their earliest days of page training.

It was a comfortable exchange of blows, although the stakes were as high as they could possibly reach.Although it might have looked like a stalemate, there was a subtle testing as they traded strikes, Sakura reaching for more ground as she defended.Her opponent’s lighting tested her wards, and Sakura could feel the sizzle and heat, and knew that if she did not turn the tides very, _very_ soon, something very ugly would happen to her flesh, encased in metal as it was.

She applied force to her ward, repelling the lightning and sending it back to into the fingers of her opponent.He let out a sound, half chocked between a gasp and a cough, and for a moment Sakura was struck by the familiar sound.The familiar pattern.

_No._

_It couldn’t be._

Her misgivings were just enough time for her opponent to get the upper hand, to force down her wards and send a numbing blast of lightning up her wrist.The heat was excruciating, and she fell back, tearing at the later straps of her bracer, releasing her sword entirely. 

But just as she fell, the pain was gone.She tested her grip, just short of having ripped the armor off her forearm.There would be no long term damage to her nerves or her grip. 

It had been a trick, to make her give up the sword and the victory.To give up her place as Naruto’s Champion.Horror welling in her gut, Sakura looked up to see her opponent pointing his sword at her throat, the universal signal for victory. 

“You’ve gotten better at that,” he said, and his voice confirmed what she had thought impossible.The low rich tenor thrummed through her as she bit back a mix of tears and laughter. 

“I yield,” she said, the time-honored words of surrender.Her opponent wasn’t listening.He had sheathed his blade and was peeling off his helmet to reveal a fine-boned face, and dark messy hair. 

Sakura could do nothing but hold her breath as she looked up into the haunted, beautiful gaze of Sasuke Uchiha. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and it's a swing and a miss for lover boy.... ah well the course of true love ne'er did run smooth and I suppose most people are better communicators than Kakashi. But never fear, a bigger disaster is on the scene.


	6. vi. to give up a human heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all of the kind words so far !! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!!!

vi. to give up a human heart

Kakashi raised one hand and the guard sprung into action, surrounding the two duelers. The crowd was a roaring tempest, spurred into chaos by the tension of the fight and the reveal of Sasuke’s identity. Konoha’s most famed prodigal son, once their shining future, now their most infamous traitor, stood in the middle of this storm of people, unbothered by the near-riot he had incited. 

Sakura sat before him, her face unreadable as she stared up the flat blade of his practice sword. Kakashi ignored the nagging of guilt at the sight. There were more immediate concerns than the pride of his former student. 

“Sasuke Uchiha,” Kakashi proclaimed. “In the name of King Naruto, you are under arrest for the crimes of high treason and regicide.” 

The guard moved closer, but Sasuke did not lower his blade from Sakura’s throat. It was a wooden practice sword, not meant for cutting or slicing, but that did not mean it was not a weapon. And it did not mean that Sasuke wasn’t a danger. The men under Kakashi’s command seemed to sense this as well because they did not move close enough to seize the rogue fighter. 

This time, however, Sasuke looked up at the crowd as if seeing it for the first time. With an expression of sheer disinterest, he released a lazy smile and shook his head. “I believe that goes against your own rules,” he said. “Victory at a tournament comes with a pardon, does it not?” 

Kakashi’s stomach sank. Traditionally it did. “There are always exceptions,” he said, using the tone he reserved for leading men into battle. It brokered no disagreement, and on those loyal to him, created instant obedience.Sasuke carried no such loyalty, the only thing he felt for Kakashi was an easy disdain.But Sasuke was not the only audience.

What Kakashi did not say was that these exceptions were made at the King’s pleasure, not his own. 

Sasuke bowed, mockingly, keeping his eyes trained on Kakashi, flourishing his sword like a trained entertainer.The theatricality added just the right touch to make Sasuke look like an absolute prick.Kakashi grimaced at the sight, wondering what other habits of Orochimaru his former student had picked up. 

But Sakura had stepped out Sasuke’s reach and into the outskirts of the ring, which made him suddenly more comfortable with ordering the young man’s arrest.He was moderately certain that Sakura could handle herself against whatever Sasuke unleashed, but he did not want her in the middle of the attack zone if things happened to get ugly.He nodded down at Iruka, signaling his approval for the arrest to begin when a voice rang out in the middle of the scene.

“Stop this,” Naruto’s voice vibrated with power.Instead of his usual youthful whine, it was a command with the full force of the crown behind it. 

Kakashi looked the dais of his king and cursed internally.Even from afar the look on Naruto’s face was heavy with emotion. Despite the calm power of his voice, his eyes were wide with frantic passion.There would be no arresting Sasuke if Naruto had anything to say about the matter.No, Naruto would never allow his old friend to await his fate in the dungeons where he belonged.

“Tradition is clear,” Naruto continued as he gestured for Iruka and the other members of the guard to step away.Then, curse him, he stood and stepped down the stairs of the dais and into the ring. 

There would have to be a very long discussion about protecting his royal personage after this stunt.He would not be able to keep Naruto alive for very long if he decided to dive directly into Sasuke’s orbit. 

But of course, Naruto continued with this madness.“Sasuke has claimed his victory,” he said, stepping through the cluster of guards. _Did he have to make this proclamation in front of everyone?_ Kakashi wanted to shout.There would be no going back after a decision this public.“He will be my champion.”

And Sasuke, to his credit, played his role perfectly.He bowed gallantly, on one knee and rested his sword to the ground.“As my liege commands,” he said, and like the most chivalrous of heroes took his king’s hand in his, and kissed the ring that bore the seal of Konoha.From his vantage point, Kakashi could not make out Sasuke’s expression, but it would take a blind man to miss the joy radiating off of Naruto’s face at this reunion, at this show of fealty. 

He had bought the act completely. 

Kakashi should have stopped this hours ago, at his earliest suspicions of the mysterious fighter’s identity.It had taken less than a minute of watching Neji and his opponent spar before Kakashi had seen the familiar pattern in the footwork, the old practiced speed.Instead of letting Sakura face him, Kakashi should have handled this the old way, as King Hiruzen would have demanded: a knife across the throat and a quick burial. 

No— that was too brutal a fate for his old student.But it had been four long years of Sasuke in Orochimaru’s tutelage, four years of learning from one of the greatest criminals to ever escape the guard’s grasp.There could be no trust after a betrayal like the one Sasuke had committed. 

As Kakashi stepped down into the ring to join his king, to throw public support for a young monarch who had thrown himself into a political pit of adders, one thought thrummed its way through his veins.

_This could doom the kingdom._

* * *

The round of meetings that occurred after Sasuke’s arrival made the ones that happened after the Akatsuki attack look like a regular midday briefing. 

That he had returned, without anyone knowing he was approaching was already a crisis.That he had emerged from the tournament victorious and in line to be the King’s Champion?This was unforgivable. 

In a rare show of unity, Danzo, Kakashi, and Tsunade all agreed that something must be done to separate Sasuke from his new position of influence. 

Worse, they also were united in their inability to find a way of detaching Naruto from the situation.Naruto did not sit in on the briefings, blissfully unaware of the storm he had caused.No, instead he was wrapped in a comfortable blanket of obliviousness, holding court and demanding respect for his old friend.Perhaps they had misstepped when they had not immediately invited Naruto to these strategy meetings.If he was to rule, he should know what demands his kingdom put upon him.Perhaps he would have been prepared for what it would mean to have Sasuke back in his inner-circle.

Instead, they had written him off as too young, and too childish, not yet ready to hear of the intricacies of power.And in his ignorance, he had laid their careful plans to waste. 

Tsunade rubbed her hands on her temples.“To summarize,” she said, “we have Akatsuki attacks on all sides.The true King of Konoha has returned, but he is an untested boy, not yet fit to lead a township, let alone a kingdom.And now, we have Sasuke Uchiha returned, heir to a long line of traitors, Orochimaru’s new star apprentice, and finally, our new Champion.Have I missed any security threats or does that about cover it?”

“You’ve forgotten that Orochimaru is still at large,” Kakashi replied drolly.“Or has that issue just been permanently shelved to fester on our borders.”

“Our regent does not have the stomach to eliminate old friends,” Danzo cut in, slicing what unity they had as surely as if he had taken a knife to it.

Tsunade’s eyes narrowed in warning.“We have spies on Orochimaru,” she said.“He has not necessitated elimination yet.”

“Perhaps,” Danzo murmured his voice low but clearly intending for the entire room to hear him.“But your sources did not prepare us for his protégé’s return, now did it?” 

Kakashi did not like this line of questioning.It spelled danger on the horizon.Eager to shift the direction away from the abstract problem of Tsunade and Orochimaru’s historical relationship, he put forth the obvious.

“Should we, just maybe, bring Sasuke in for questioning directly?” 

“Naruto won’t let us bring him into custody,” Tsunade snorted.“As far as our king is concerned, Sasuke has proven himself loyal enough by returning to Konoha.”

“Nothing so direct,” Kakashi replied.“I simply mean…asking.And before you say that he will lie and say all the right things, we should at least _try_ to get a sense of his motives.”What he did not say was that Sir Inoichi, who currently sat in on their meeting, was a member of the Yamanaka family.Although such methods were perilously close to illegal sorcery, the Yamanaka family were known for their interrogation technique.It was so subtle that victims were said to never know any of their memories had been probed. 

All of the members of the council had been alive long before King Hiruzen’s proclamation that sorcery was forbidden.They knew what the Yamanakas were capable of.Surely one of the others had thought to take advantage of the tools in their hands.It was the height of foolishness to continue with the law of a dead king, a law that threatened the kingdom’s security. 

But a dangerous gleam shone in Danzo’s eye, one that did not suggest he would be willing to bend on such matters.“Perhaps Tsunade is not the only one with old loyalties to be tested.Do you think your old student deserves clemency?After joining in the plot to kill King Hiruzen?What is to stop him at one dead king?”

“I would hardly call what Sasuke did regicide,” Kakashi replied, bristling.Despite maintaining a cool exterior, Danzo’s representation of the past was riddled with leaps of judgment and inaccuracies.“Orochimaru was already well within our walls.Obtaining Sasuke was as much a part of his plot as killing King Hiruzen.That Sasuke left with him is treason, yes.But he did not put the blade between the old king’s ribs.That was Orochimaru, under the disguise that we _should_ have been able to sense had we not kneecapped ourselves.”

Danzo steepled his hands and leaned forward, the predatory gleam not gone from his eye.“I suppose as Knight-Captain of the Guard, you have thoughts on how we’ve _kneecapped_ ourselves.”

“Our enemies have no issue with using sorcery to attack our borders and kill our people,” Kakashi fired back.He _knew_ this was a dangerous battle to fight, but something stopped him from biting his tongue.It might have been the disparaging look in Danzo’s eyes as he hurled accusations at the regent, at Kakashi, without lifting a hand in support of the realm’s defense.. 

Or perhaps it as the incessant _stupidity_ of outlawing Konoha’s best line of defense. 

Or perhaps t was a memory of Sakura on the battlefield, valiantly facing down Danzo’s lackey, completely unaware that just minutes before he had ordered her death.The memory of the pain in Kakashi’s chest as he had been helpless to defend her.

To speak of treason, when he would eliminate one of the most promising squires Konoha had trained, for what?Ego?Proximity to power? 

“King Hiruzen outlawed that black magic,” Danzo hissed, rising from his chair. 

“Hiruzen would still be _alive_ if he hadn’t passed that gods damned law,” Kakashi shot back, rising to meet the head of the Anbu. 

“Enough,” Tsunade roared, her raised voice cutting between them.“This gets us nowhere.” 

For a moment it looked like Danzo was about to challenge Tsunade.But Kakashi could practically see the journey on his face as he remembered that Tsunade was still technically in charge.Ss he was currently riding the high of legal superiority, it would do him no good to cast aside all of the tradition that dictated obedience to the current ruler of the realm.Uneasily, Danzo bowed his head in recognition, backing down from the fight.Kakashi made no such gesture. 

Both men took their seats, but this fight between Kakashi and Danzo was not over.Judging from the look of the tension in the older man’s shoulders, Danzo felt the same.

Scratching on the glass of the window drew Tsunade’s attention away from the silent battle at the war room table.She opened the latch, allowing a hawk entry into the room.

It was a small, light brown thing, made for warm climates and drought.Only the kingdom of Sunagakure used such creatures as their messengers, most other kingdoms relied on messenger pigeons to communicate.The site of Tsunade unrolling a tiny missive distracted Kakashi from the newest stage of his conflict with Danzo. 

Her lips went white with tension, the only indication that what was before her was not a cheery missive from the desert kingdom’s young king. 

“The Akatsuki have struck again,” Tsunade announced to the room.“This time outside our borders.King Gaara requests our aid.”

The words hung heavy in the room for a moment.The desert kingdom had been their allies when Orochimaru struck, four years ago.They owed a favor to their newest ally, but Konoha was hardly equipped to provide them with the men. 

“This could be an opportunity,” Danzo said.“We need more information on the group.” 

“I propose we send a small force,” Inoichi agreed, always sensitive to the demands of maintaining allegiances.“A squadron, perhaps two.” 

“I agree,” Tsunade said, letting out a thoughtful hum.“Kakashi, you need to cool your heels.”

“I’m in charge of security for the castle, milady,” he replied drolly, not liking where this was headed.“I’m not meant to ‘cool my heels’.” 

“You are too close to this Sasuke issue to be much use,” she waved a hand in dismissal.“But you will be valuable in Sunagakure.”Kakashi’s stomach sank.There was no good time for the Knight-Captain of the guard to leave the city, but this could only be described as an extremely, _extremely,_ bad time for him to go out on an extended mission.

He wanted to protest, but the only evidence he could bring forth was his suspicions about Danzo.Accusing the head of Anbu of trying to kill Sakura would not get his case very far.Tsunade would believe him, of course, but she was also not a tyrant.Konoha’s law was clear about how such matters were to be handled: a proper trial or trial by combat.Kakashi would not win in the court of public opinion by sword fighting an old man.He would not win in the courtroom with only his word as evidence.

And now his plan to watch the man closely was going up in smoke. 

“If you insist,” he replied, the obedience cutting.“I will prepare a squad to aid Sunagakure.”

“I do insist,” Tsunade replied.Then, a pause.“And take my squire with you.She’s been stuck in the castle too long and deserves some field experience.”There was a crafty, calculated look in Tsunade’s eye as she issued the second order.Kakashi had not told her of Sakura’s indiscretion, and he could not imagine Sakura would have said anything either.But somehow, he got the sense that the regent knew that Sakura had come perilously close to going rogue, desperate for action.Desperate for a proving ground.

“As you command,” Kakashi demurred with a bow, taking his leave. 

* * *

Sakura did not take the order much better than Kakashi had.She had accepted the news with a tightlipped acquiescence.Although she did not voice a dispute, revolt lit in her green eyes as she said, “I’ll begin packing then.”

Kakashi was puzzled by this development: Tsunade had not been wrong when she said that Sakura needed to get out of Konoha’s borders for some battlefield action.A part of him thought that the squire would be elated to make the trip: she had fought alongside King Gaara and his court of siblings in Orochimaru’s attack.Naruto would surely be envious of the assignment. 

The sight of Sakura turning away from him, disappointment written on every line of her silhouette, haunted Kakashi throughout the day and into the evening as he prepared for the journey.They would take a small squad of fifteen soldiers, all veterans to foreign operations, and loyal to the crown.It pained Kakashi to take fifteen good fighters away from Konoha, but there was little choice.Their allegiance with Sunagakure demanded Konoha’s best, and Kakashi had no proper evidence that there would be an attack while they were gone.

The remaining force (many times more than the number Kakashi rode with) would be plenty to defend the kingdom in any case. But Kakashi could mot shake the sense that he should not turn his attention away from the capital. 

He was wrapped in these thoughts, weighing the equal problem of Sakura and national security, as a light tap on his door scattered his attention.The sun was already setting, he had lost the day to his worries.

The sarcastic greeting Kakashi had prepared for Might Guy died on his lips as he opened the wooden door.Instead of a brawny knight, the slender form of Sakura greeted him.She was dressed for the evening, in a white cotton gown unfit for a fight, her pink hair loose. 

She looked unsure as she let herself into the room, shutting the door behind her.In the rich orange light of the sunset, the fabric of her dress was dyed a brilliant tangerine. 

“Good evening,” Kakashi said, unsure of how to proceed.It was alarmingly intimate, letting her into his chambers.Not that there was anything scandalous here; Kakashi lived in the standard two-room arrangement reserved for military officers.His actual sleeping room was separate, this was only the sitting room and study, _meant_ for meetings.

But with Sakura there, daintily seating herself at his writing desk, he suddenly felt as though every detail of his life was exposed to her.And she still had not said a word. 

“Our mission departs in the morning” she finally said, breaking the silence.“But it does not look like you’ve packed.”

Kakashi looked around at the various collection of clothes scattered around his study.He had been so preoccupied with worries about Danzo and thoughts about the young woman in front of him that he had not gotten to the part where he actually put his things in a pack.

“It won’t take much longer,” he objected. 

Sakura shook her head, and to his mortification stood from her spot in the study and began picking shirts up off of surfaces and putting them into neat piles.“I remember how late you can be, Kakashi,” she said, a teasing tone in her voice.“I think you need a hand.”

Teasing was good.Teasing was normal, and not the distant moodiness that had become a habit of Sakura.He knew how to react to her teasing, which was to lend a hand as she organized his things and to distract her in case she uncovered anything truly mortifying. He also made a note that if he were to ever teach again, he would not give his students the impression that he was unreliable.Kakashi was not sure he liked that his former student thought of him as a wastrel. 

They packed in an easy silence, and Kakashi found it was comfortable to spend time with Sakura like this.It would not be a bad thing to have her accompany him on this mission.She was capable and reliable, and he could trust her to handle herself in a fight. They sat on the floor, side by side as he organized his pack into something resembling travel-ready.But as he swept the last of his shirts into his traveling pack, he noticed that the lines of Sakura’s posture was tense, and she chewed her lower lip thoughtfully next to him. 

Perhaps not so easy a silence after all…. He braced himself as he remembered what hung between them.Her attachment to Sasuke had not been a secret in her youth, and he had bested her on the battlefield just the day before 

“Why did you really tell me to quit the tournament,” she asked finally.Her voice was soft and heavy, and he noticed the faintest hint of trepidation in the words, as though she had been holding onto the question for hours.There was a sudden flash of hurt in her eyes, and Kakashi realized he had miscalculated.This was not about Sasuke, but about his request before her match with Sai. 

Excuses rose and fell in his throat as he measured the impact of every word.Danzo had threatened her life, had ordered Sai to cripple her…or worse.But she had been right: risking her life was part of the job. 

“I-“ he started and stopped, the words choking on his lips.

_I was afraid for you_.

He had no right to fear for her; it was his job to train her in the ways of battle and death and unleash her on the world to meet her own fate, be it in victory or defeat.Kakashi had no claim on her destiny. 

“I was wrong,” he settled on.“To ask that of you.But what I said was true, that day.I still don’t trust Sai, or his allegiance to Danzo.But you handled yourself admirably.I should have trusted you.” 

“I thought…” she paused, and then sighed wearily.“It’s not important.”

The orange light had cooled, casting Sakura in blue ashes of shadow and the faintest gold.She was no longer his student; the inexperienced girl in a team of battle-hungry youths.The faintest gold illuminated her lips, and suddenly he was so close to her, close enough that he could almost feel the heat of her smooth skin. 

“I will never try to stop you again,” Kakashi promised, a trace of irony sliding into his words.“You are practically ready for knighthood.You don’t need your old page commander telling you what to do.”

“You aren’t old,Kakashi,” Sakura said, leaning in slightly.“I value your judgment.But…”. 

“But?”

“Do you really think I’m ready for knighthood?”Her eyes sparked as she looked up at him.“Knighting isn’t supposed to be for another year, and there is still the Proving to consider.But I’d like to try for my knighthood soon.I think-“ she stopped, as though to keep herself from saying something too earnest or revealing.When she started again, her tone was much more measured.“I think I’d be able to handle the Proving.”

The Proving was the final test for Konoha squires looking to become knights.All of the great nations had their own exam, and each varied from custom to custom.Konoha’s was strict, and many years at least one page quit or perished in the trial.Kakashi still remembered his Proving—he had been younger than the average knight. 

It had been…trying.No one spoke freely of the exam, for it tested the limits of the squire’s determination.It dredged up all the memories a squire fought hardest to suppress, in an attempt to see if it could force the would-be knight into breaking. 

But Kakashi could not say this to the excited young woman before him.Even in the dying light he could see the sparkle that radiated off of her, that hunger for her future. 

“Konoha needs every good knight it can get,” Kakashi said.He did not want to make a promise he could not keep—but everything about Sakura exuded readiness to take the Proving.If Naruto was ready for kingship, Sakura could certainly handle the duty to the realm that came with full knighthood. 

Kakashi’s crypticness did not seem to bother Sakura, whose face morphed into a secretive smile.It transformed her from the serious young woman he had come to know into something more, beautiful and light and filled with promise.It made him ache with something he couldn’t name, a yearning he didn’t dare voice.The curve of her lip caught his attention, drawing his gaze to the perfect arch of her cupid’s bow and the pale pink of her lips that matched her hair so perfectly. 

Sakura leaned forward slightly, until their shoulders were nearly touching, and for a wild desperate moment he could imagine her resting on his shoulder, her head tucked neatly under his.Her skin looked impossibly soft in the light of the single candle that burned on his desk.It was a pitiful guardian against the falling darkness of night, but it added warmth to the curve of Sakura’s cheek.He found his hand racing for that sliver of light, helpless against the call of the warmth of her. But she was not meant for him—Sakura was meant for a future of glory.To tie himself to her, to her future, would hold her back. 

“Konoha needs every great knight it can get,” he murmured, correcting himself.His hand hovered there for a moment, testing the boundary of fate and the strength of his resolve. 

But Kakashi had always been a weak man.Slowly, as though some force would repel him, he brushed the knuckles of his fingers along that sliver of light, stopping to rest at the corner of her lips.It was a question, waiting for her to push him away in rejection. 

Sakura’s eyes fluttered, and her lips parted in answer.“Kakashi,” she said, his name a soft whisper between them. 

As though he would scare her away, Kakashi leaned in.Suddenly the mask that covered his face was hot, too hot, and entirely too much fabric between them.Sakura leaned in towards him, her eyes half-closed as she looked up at him through thick, full lashes.Her green eyes were barely lit by the candle, but he could see something in her eyes that spoke of determination and command.She placed a hand over his, gently turning it so that his palm rested flush against her cheek, his thumb resting on the center of her lips.And as easily as that, Kakashi’s resolve crumbled. 

They were soft, so soft, softer than anything he had ever deserved, and the rough callous of his thumb caught on the fullness of them.He leaned forward, his other hand reaching for his mask to taste them, hungry for the crush of that softness against his skin. 

But then there was another girl was before him, brown hair dyed burgundy by blood.His hand froze, leaving his mask in place.Instead of the flickering light of the candle, the girl was illuminated by the searing glow of lighting.As if he could burn her, Kakashi jerked his hand away, standing up from the floor in one fluid motion.He turned away from Sakura, unable to meet her eyes. 

She deserved a future unmarred by bloody hands, a destiny unchained by the old crimes. 

“We ride early tomorrow,” he said and prayed she could not hear the tangled snarl of his voice.Still he could not meet her eyes, although he turned to see her dust herself off as she stood.He did not raise his gaze further than just above the ground behind her, afraid of what he would see in her gaze.

Horror?Disgust?He had been her _mentor_ , damn him.What boundaries would he not merrily cross in his quest for self-ruination?

“I suppose I had better get some rest,” she said.Was that disappointment in her voice?Her shoulders were slumped as she let herself out of his chambers.“Sleep well Kakashi,” she said as she shut the door.He barely mustered the courage to look at her face, almost missed the glimpse of her mouth twisted in a sharp frown.

_Damn him._

_You have no claim to her_ , he told himself.The inner rebuke was sharp with accusation. And for a moment it was not his own voice he imagined, but one sharper, younger.A voice that would never be heard on this earth again. 

Kakashi screwed his eyes shut, warding off the memories.But the inner torrent of blame came anyway.

_You ruin everything you touch,_ the voice accused, acerbic with blame _._

_You will ruin her, given the chance._


	7. vii. a terrible perpetual motion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, thank you all for your comments!!! We love a slooooooooow burn in this house!!!!!!! (not that slow, don't worry).

vii. a terrible perpetual motion

To say that the ride to Sunagakure was easy would be the worst lie imaginable.Sakura could not stand the cold of the forests, the heat of the desert, or the perpetual wind in her face.It seemed to blur together into one endless discomfort.She felt exposed, riding in front of the 15 members of the guard that Kakashi had tapped for the mission.As they set up camp, she was ruthlessly aware of her lack of experience; the easy way each of the group pitched their tents made her slow, meticulous pace look like the word of a child.

Or maybe, the real source of her discomfort was the man beside her.She and Kakashi had not spoken of the night before their departure, but as a squire, she was obligated to ride next to him.In place of Tsunade, he was her commanding officer.She was not a member of the guard, who were not nobility but commoners from unlanded families that had entered service to the crown.As such, she was expected not to integrate herself into their force but stand separate from them and align herself with Kakashi- a knight and officer.

Which was proving challenging to do after their last, fraught interaction.They barely spoke during the day, except for moments where Kakashi imparted knowledge that might be useful for her future travels after she was knighted. It reminded her, irritatingly, of her page days, when Kakashi would lead Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke on field missions. It was like being splashed with cold water after the even-handed way Kakashi had treated her before their journey. 

In the quiet of their rides, Sakura shifted through her memories of that evening, searching desperately for what it had meant.Why had he pushed her away so suddenly, when _he_ had been the one to touch her face? She had been forward, yes, to try to wrest control of the situation, but she hadn't thought she was misreading his signals. Or had he simply been disgusted by her forwardness?It was generally considered unbefitting for young noblewomen to make the first move, or pursue men with any kind of obvious interest.But as Sakura was a squire, she was not the traditional noblewoman, and the rules were slightly different.Wilting flowers could not last long in combat, and so the usual wilting behaviors of noblewomen were cast aside. 

The mystery of the reason for Kakashi’s rejection followed her as she went through her morning tasks: packing her tent, preparing for the long ride, eating a light camp breakfast with the rest.As a squire, Sakura should have also been in charge of Kakashi’s tack, but he had waved her away, denying her the traditional responsibilities of a squire. 

In the evenings she wordlessly ate dinner around the fire with the rest of their traveling party.Kakashi was able to joke easily with the member of the rank and file.For all that he was a member of the nobility and their commanding officer, he knew these people well.They had fought together on other missions and shared an easy rapport full of inside jokes.Sakura had none of this. 

As a squire, she was expected to one day become either an officer in the military or a lone fighter who patrolled the countryside.Nothing of Tsunade’s education had prepared her for participating in the day to day life of the guard.That night, Sakura sat across from Kakashi, examining him through the crackling light of the campfire.She searched his expression for signs of discomfort—she was beginning to grow used to his awkwardness.But here, surrounded by members of the guard, he was at ease. 

“Something on your mind?”Kurenai, the one woman of their group, sat down next to Sakura.Sakura flushed in embarrassment having been caught with her attention so intently on Kakashi, but Kurenai did not even glance in the Knight-Captain’s direction. 

“No,” Sakura lied.“Well…yes, but only the usual things.” 

At that, Kurenai’s perfectly colored red lips curled up in a smile.She was lovely, feminine despite her rough life and lightyears ahead of Sakura in experience: of both the battle and feminine variety.“Oh do tell,” Kurenai said.“I’d love to know what the usual things are.”

Sakura flushed further as she realized that it was not a lie to say that Kakashi had become one of the ‘usual’ topics that occupied her thoughts.In fact, he was starting to become something of an obsession. 

_The heat of Kakashi’s touch burned bright flares of heat where his knuckles brushed her cheek.Suddenly she wanted, more, so much more.She turned his palm to caress her face fully, his name escaping her lips in a short gasp. It was not enough, the spread of warmth barely soothing the hunger that was growing within._

_Kakashi’s eye caught hers in a hypnotic, smoldering trance.He ran his thumb along her lower lip and it took all of Sakura’s willpower not to open her lips and take the finger into her mouth-_

“Just battle nerves,” Sakura said.“I haven’t left Konoha since I was a page.”

“I had heard that you had something of an eventful time as a page,” Kurenai said.

“The exams were,” Sakura said breezily, not highlighting the fact that she had avoided most of the battle.It had been Naruto who had fled after Sasuke, not she.And it was for Naruto that Sasuke had returned. 

“And the incident with the Wave Kingdom,” Kurenai interjected.“I would say you have more battle experience than most pages.”She produced a small metal flask from her jerkin’s inner pocket and poured a splash of amber liquid into her tin cup.She gestured for Sakura to produce her own cup and poured.“There will probably not be much in the way of fighting this time around,” she said before taking a sip. 

Sakura followed suit, terrified to scare away the first gesture of camaraderie she had received on this journey.Her nose wrinkled at the astringent taste of alcohol, but on a second sip she grew used to it.It warmed her chest with a swelling glow, and she relaxed the faintest amount. "What makes you say that?" She asked. 

"By the time we get there, the Akatsuki will be long gone," Kurenai said. 'We might get some intel, but nothing more substantial."

“They attacked the castle first,” Sakura said, a faint line of trepidation in her tone.“And they attacked Sunagakure’s capital.You don’t think we’ll be going after them?”

“We aren't equipped to” Kurenai replied, pouring Sakura a little more of the amber liquid.“Our job is to investigate.To support.It’s diplomat work more than anything.”

Sakura snorted slightly.She knew what that entailed.Her training under Tsunade had been so focused on political machinations that she had chafed beneath it at times.Diplomat work was nothing but polite words and lying through your teeth, and Sakura did not relish it.She much preferred to have her hands knee-deep in the action, be it through healing work of combat.But she could play the role, and play it well. It had been a part of Tsunade’s education, a condition to accessing the more controversial things Tsunade could teach her.

_You should be glad there won’t be fighting_ , she told herself as she took another sip. _You shouldn’t look forward to seeing people die in action._ Because good people would die if it came down to fighting.The Akatsuki were incredibly powerful and did not care about leaving a body count in their wake. 

Kurenai surveyed the camp around them and then smiled mischievously at Sakura.“It’s not all bad for a squire like yourself,” she said.“At least you get to rove around with our merry band of fools.”The burgundy curve of Kurenai’s smile was teasing, but Sakura felt herself bristle all the same.Perhaps it was the alcohol or the days of uncomfortable silence riding next to Kakashi, but Sakura glowered. 

“It’s strange,” she confided hesitantly in the older woman.“I feel like I’m imposing in some way.I’m just a squire, I don’t have much combat experience, and I am certainly no diplomat.” 

What she did not say was that she was certain she was in the wrong place.That she was meant to be by Naruto’s side, as his Champion.But Sasuke, cruel beautiful Sasuke, had taken that role.He had returned out of nowhere and claimed pride of place beside Naruto, leaving Sakura to pick up the shards of her destiny.

Kurenai considered Sakura thoughtfully, as though she could read Sakura’s anxiety on her face.“You’re here to learn, aren’t you?”Sakura boded mutely, taking another generous sip. She was warming up to the drink Kurenai had poured her- it was a perfect touch of warmth for the cold nights of sleeping in a tent. 

“Is Kakashi giving you trouble?”s Kurenai asked.At that, Sakura could _feel_ her cheeks flush.She prayed that the dim lamplight was enough to hide the way she blushed under the line of questioning. 

That was the root of things, wasn’t it?Kakashi should have been her entry into the group but he had completely frozen her out of the fabric of their journey. And worst of all, it was her own fault that it had happened. 

She couldn’t tell Kurenai about their encounter, but suddenly she longed to divulge her secret to somebody.If Ino were here, Sakura could have poured her heart out, about how she had _truly_ messed things up this time.She had always been too forward with Sasuke, but trying to seduce her former _mentor_ was a bridge too far. 

Before Sakura could answer Kurenai’s question, their commanding officer and topic of conversation cleared his throat.Sakura jumped, having forgotten completely that Kakashi was there and could hear whatever they said. 

“Kurenai, I believe it’s your turn to take watch,” he said, a faint growl in his voice.Kurenai winked in Sakura’s direction as she stood.“If he _is_ causing you problems, you certainly aren’t the only one,” she groused cheerfully.

Sakura stood as well, or at least tried to.Because as soon as she did, the floor spun around her. 

_Oh no,_ she thought.

“Is something wrong?”Kakashi teased, suddenly too close.Horrified, Sakura realized she had spoken out loud.He offered her his arm for support, which she did _not_ take.It was mortifying enough that he had rejected her clumsy advances in Konoha.She would not lean on him like some moonstruck girl unable to handle her alcohol.

_Even if that last part might be true,_ she thought, mustering all of her strength to get one foot in front of the other. 

“You shouldn’t drink with Kurenai,” Kakashi remarked, following her, and Sakura realized that their tents were pitched right next to each other on the edge of camp.“She’s drunk all of us under the table at least once.

“Including you?” Sakura asked tartly, despite herself. She twirled around to confront him, but once again the ground shifted and she lost her balance.

“Including me,” Kakashi affirmed, catching her with one firm grasp on her shoulder.“And now you, it seems.” 

“Hardly,” Sakura insisted, mustering all of her strength to stand an inch taller.“I barely had a sip.”

“That doesn’t help your case,” Kakashi murmured, guiding Sakura to her tent.“You may want to work on your stamina for the future.” 

“I could drink _you_ under the table, Kakashi,” Sakura said suddenly, emboldened by his words.This earned her a dark chuckle, and “I’d like to see you try.”He still had not let her go, held her only a few feet away from his body, as they bantered. 

This time the warmth in her chest had nothing to do with the alcohol.Perhaps he was not as disgusted by her as she had thought.They were close, so close together she could almost feel him against her, and suddenly Sakura wanted nothing more than to close that gap between them.Slowly this time, careful not to scare him away, Sakura took another step closer. 

Never let it be said she was not persistent.Sakura Haruno, squire to the regent of Konoha, future knight, and sorceress in training, did not give up on what she desired.And oh, how she suddenly desired Kakashi.“Perhaps I’ll take you up that,” she promised.“You may be surprised at the outcome.” 

“You’re drunk, Sakura,” Kakashi said, but he did not push her away.If anything, _he_ stepped closer to her, closing the gap even further until her chest was nearly touching his. 

Some sober part of her insisted that this was a _bad_ idea, but Sakura did not care to listen.Instead, all she could hear was the beating of her heart and the thrumming of blood, as she leaned forward and whispered, “I know.” And then she was an inch from his face, and he was pulling his mask down, and the taste of his lips was so close, the anticipation made her heartbeat so fast it was all she could hear until-

“Captain?”Kurenai’s distant voice was harsh with urgency, shocking them apart.Kakashi pulled his mask back into position and Sakura distantly realized she hadn’t even gotten a good look.

“Go to bed, Sakura,” Kakashi ordered, striding away quickly into the perimeter of the camp.Sakura cursed and wobbled slightly as she stood in place.She willed herself to sober up, using a sweeping course of healing magic she knew Tsunade made use of daily, then followed after Kakashi.He may have been the knight-captain, but she was not a member of the guard to be ordered off to bed. 

The blood drained out of Sakura’s face as she took in the sight before her.The last guard to take watch- Izumo, Sakura believed his name was, hung upside down, eyes shut and his face so pale it was almost blue.There was a massive gash in his side and a pool of blood below where he had hung.The blood dripped slowly into the pool and it seemed to echo throughout the forest for one hideous tempo. 

_d_ _rip. drip._ silence _. drip._ silence. _drip._

Then Kakashi was moving, cutting the guardsman down and swearing, and Kurenai was trying to put pressure on the wound but her technique was all wrong.

Without a thought for the chain of command or orders, Sakura slid between them.“Get off him,” Sakura growled and something in her tone must have been commanding because Kurenai backed away, her face almost as white as Izumo’s. 

Sakura knelt next to Kakashi, tearing a piece of fabric off of Izumo’s tunic and applying pressure with her palm flat, the cloth covering the wound.With her other hand, she checked his pulse. 

For a beat, it seemed that there was none, but then it came faint and low as his heart struggled to make the blood rush through his veins.But it was enough, he still carried the will to live in his body. 

_All the magic in the world can’t bring a dead man back,_ Tsunade had said, her voice heavy with sorrow.Sakura had never asked, but she knew that personal experience came buried in that warning.Summoning the warm glow of her magic, Sakura continued to apply pressure, willing the power to spread through Izumo’s flesh, knitting the wound back together and bringing color back to his face.It would not be enough to bring him back to full health, but it would buy him time to recover. 

it was only when his eyes fluttered open, and he took a deep gasping breath that Sakura released her magic and her hold on his torso.“Can we move him yet?”Kakashi asked, his voice soft and near Sakura’s ear.

“Yes,” she said, “but carefully.”The exhaustion began to seem into her bones—it always did after healing work.Kakashi nodded at Kurenai, and slowly the older woman began to pick Izumo up from where he lay.

“Tell Kotetsu to join you on watch,”Kakashi ordered.“We are doubling up for the rest of the trip.” He paused and then gestured for Kurenai to stop.“I don’t need to tell you discretion is key, do I?”

Kurenai’s gaze flicked in Sakura’s direction before nodding.She disappeared into the night with Izumo half draped over her shoulders. 

The combination of the alcohol, the journey, and using her abilities came to collect their toll from her body. Suddenly Sakura was exhausted: her eyes felt like they would close at any second and her limbs were heavy at her side. All of the adrenaline coursing through her veins did nothing for her.

Kakashi seemed to notice, as concern was etched across what little of his features he could see.“You’ve overextended yourself,” he said, reaching out a hand to help her up.She took it, cringing internally. 

_Discretion is key._ Shit.

“I-I shouldn’t have done that.”Her voice sounded faint even to her own ears. 

“You saved his life, Sakura,” Kakashi said, his voice a low growl.He pulled her up to her feet,keeping his arm around her shoulders in support.“Never apologize for that.”

“But-“

“No protests,” he repeated.“Kurenai won’t betray your secret, and I certainly won’t.” 

She was too tired to pursue this line of questioning further—he was practically carrying her as they walked along the camp to where their tents were set up.For now, as fraught as their relationship was, Sakura had no choice but to trust him. 

Gently, Kakashi lifted the flap of her tent and guided her into her sleeping roll.Later she would wonder at the softness of his treatment and the way he did not flinch from her as he tucked her light travel blanket around her.

Her magic had never taken its toll like this in years, not since the first time Tsunade had taught her to mend a broken bone. But healing with magic was always exhausting, that was why Tsunade and Sakura used herbs and traditional methods to clean and stitch wounds when they were in the castle. Even that first lesson on bone mending had demanded utmost secrecy, administered to a dog that had broken his leg and could not report back to the guard that sorcery had been used.

That was the great irony of her craft: healing demanded so much more than killing and yet it was killing that the nobles of Konoha spent their youth's mastering. And it could earn her the greater punishment.She had been trained to wield a sword for killing, but she could be executed for lifting a hand to heal in the wrong way. 

“Who did this?”She asked, resting her head on the meager comfort of her sleeping roll. She could agonize over her potential punishment later, for now, she could fight the claim of sleep no longer.

The final sound she heard as she drifted off to sleep was Kakashi’s low tone.“Someone who does not want us to get to Konogakure.”


	8. viii. lands robbed, men slain, nations humiliated

viii. lands robbed, men slain, nations humiliated

By some gift of fate, the attack had occurred only a few days ride from the capital of Sunagakure.Spurred by urgency, the group picked up their pace, eager to close the gap and ward off further threats.Entering the heart of the desert helped: without the cover of trees, the night watch could see further and threats had nowhere to hide. 

Still, on her night watch shifts, Sakura could not shake the feeling that they were being watched.Every animal noise in the distance was enough to make her jump; even the rush of the wind blowing through the sand made her freeze with anticipation.It did not help that her watches were usually with strangers, someone she did not recognize or trust.

Whether purposefully or not, her shifts never coincided with Kakashi’s.Instead, he had gone back to distancing himself from her, which she noted with a secret disappointment.Their pattern as mentor and student, commanding officer and the dutiful squire had returned, and Sakura played her role with a resigned silence. 

When the finally did reach Sunagakure, it was with considerable relief.After days of sleeping in tents and rare baths in streams, the sight of Sunagakure rising out of the horizon took the breath from Sakura’s lungs. 

A small group waited for them at the city gates, headed up by the king’s sister Temari.It was an honor guard, meant to welcome them to the foreign city and a sign of the tentative friendship between the two nations.Sakura did not know how to approach the older girl, who had joined in the fight against Orochimaru.Despite their alliance, Temari was also cold and distant.Judging by the way that the sun glinted off her armor and the position she took at the head of the guard, she had also been promoted to knighthood. 

But she smiled at the sight of Sakura, and greeted her as she greeted Kakashi, elevating the squire to his level in the eyes of Sunagakure.“I heard you came in second in the tournament,” she said with a grin. 

“How did you know?”Sakura gasped in surprise. 

“Shikamaru told me in his latest letter,” was Temari’s response.Sakura suppressed a smile to hear that Shikamaru was sending the severe lady knight regular letters.She would have to tease him when she got back to Konoha— he was notorious for mocking concepts like chivalrous love and romance, but judging by the way Temari had said “latest” letter, Sakura suspected he was not immune. 

Sakura’s wonder did not cease when they passed through the city gates, if anything it only increased.Sunagakure was the example of what Konoha could be if only it would welcome sorcery as part of its makeup.She knew from Tsunade’s lessons that Sunagakure had also forbidden sorcery in the years following the third Great War, but Gaara had changed all of that.At the start of his reign, the young sorcerer-king had not been welcomed with open arms but slowly he had transformed Sunagakure from a dusty desert outpost to a bustling center of trade. 

Where outside the desert was as dry as stone, the city flowed with water and greenery.Hawkers called out offers for magical treatments to common ailments next to street stalls selling the usual variety of pottery and food. Here was a piece of lumber, levitating into place, manipulated by the supervisor of the construction project.There was a street musician, animating bits of paper to dance to his tune, bringing delight to passing children. 

This is what Konoha could be like if only the laws would change.Richer, healthier.Freer. 

She tucked this vision of the future away, to hold onto when the injustice of their laws got to be too much. _Surely_ Naruto would listen to reason if she told him of what Sunagakure was like.He admired Gaara greatly- their duel had been the cement that glued their friendship together.He would see reason and follow in his friend’s kingdom’s footsteps.And if he wasn’t easily swayed, Sakura would find a way to _make_ him.

The urgency with which Sakura imagined forcing Naruto’s hand chilled her in the desert heat.Something dark had blossomed In her chest, a dark hidden desire for dominance that she was not quite yet ready to face. _Making_ the king of Konoha do anything was not for the likes of her, not sunny, pretty Sakura who focused her time on healing or gallantly doing battle against Konoha’s foes.Her role was to support, not to take control.And certainly not do what she was imagining, a cocktail of blackmail and threats and manipulation from the shadows.

Thankfully, they had arrived at the castle that stood in the center of the desert city, and Temari was directing servants to take their mounts and for most of the guard to get rest.She let out a rare apologetic smile at Kakashi and Sakura and said, “I would let you refresh yourselves but what we have to tell you can’t wait.” 

* * *

Gaara’s face was severe as he took in the group of people around him.Sakura could almost see the lines of old enmity between the various dirty looks passed around.Konoha and Sunagakure’s relationship had not always been friendly, and the naked hostility on the face of the older woman across from Kakashi showed that plainly. 

“Thank you to the delegation from Konoha,” Gaara began the meeting.“But I am afraid we owe you an apology.We have brought you here under false pretenses.” 

Kakashi arched a single eyebrow.She could feel the ire radiating off of him- Sunagakure and Konoha’s relationship was a new alliance.Even the small gathering here demonstrated how fragile that relationship could be.One wrong move (like calling for a delegation of soldiers halfway across the world with a lie) could be enough to snap that thread.

“We were attacked by the Akatsuki, yes,” Gaara said, his tone tinged with the slightest hint of haste, “but we haven’t asked you here to investigate.We know what they want.”

“And a simple letter would not suffice?” 

“They are after me,” Gaara said.“The latest attack was an attempt to kidnap me.” 

“ _Latest_ attack?”

“There have been several.The last attack made it past the town and into the castle itself.It is as if they have been testing our defenses and have finally found the chink in our armor.And we think they will strike again soon.”

“Why bring us here?”Sakura finally blurted out.“I’m sure your forces are strong enough without a few members of the Konoha guard.”

“Oh ho ho,” the old woman across from Kakashi chuckled.The sour look on her face smoothed out slightly.“The girl speaks sense.You are right, we do not need you.”

Gaara silenced her with a glance, an impressive display of the way his royal authority had grown.“While I admire Sir Kakashi’s prowess in battle, you have a point.We are well prepared for the next attack, but we have reason to believe that we are not the Akatsuki’s only targets.We think Konoha, no, _Naruto_ , could be next.”

Kakashi’s single visible eye narrowed, and Sakura could see that he had balled his hands into fists beneath the table, his knuckles completely white.“Again,” Kakashi said, his voice carefully measured.“You do not explain how a simple letter would not have sufficed.”

Gaara’s eyebrows rounded out with sympathy, and he said in a pedantic tone, as though speaking to a child, “letters can be intercepted.My sister Temari has been in touch with your Shikamaru, and there is reason to believe that not all of the king’s counselors are loyal to his name.This was information we needed to be sure was in the hands of someone King Naruto could trust.”

Kakashi relaxed, _slightly._

“We suspect that King Naruto is their next target.But do not be fooled, this is no simple matter of the assassination of kings.We suspect the Akatsuki have darker intentions, ones that could compromise King Naruto if he were ever captured.”King Gaara’s hand went to the blade at his hip, the sword that gave him authority over Sunagakure.The Desert Promise, as old as the dunes that surrounded the city, had been passed down from king to king in a never-ending chain.Unlike in Konoha, the sword chose the next king, in an elaborate ceremony that dated long before the now-defunct rule against sorcery. 

For most in Konoha, the swords of the realms of the land were an out-dated bit of history.Many saw them as nothing but old relics that had as much power as their mother’s cooking pots.The legend that the sword chose it’s own master, that it imbued the wielder with untold powers only a monarch should be trusted, all of it.But Sakura knew first hand that it was real.She had been there that day when the magic had called to Naruto’s blood and he had claimed his destiny.She had seen the way the wind had whipped around his form, choosing him for more than anonymous knighthood. 

Gaara had seen it as well, and more importantly, had known what it meant.In the confusion of Orochimaru’s attack, most had learned of all of this later.Tsunade had cleverly revealed a secret will, where the dead King Minato had claimed his son and revealed his parentage.It had staved off most of the questions, and Jiraiya whisking the new king away for training had further helped to quell suspicion.But a few trusted members of the council knew the truth.

Naruto held within him a great power, greater than anything Sakura could muster.She doubted even Naruto knew what potential rested at his fingertips.He had been too desperate to pursue Sasuke to even realize what he had done when he pulled the sword out of the forgotten cobblestone road in the middle of town.It had come as a surprise to Naruto when he had returned without Sasuke to find a throne waiting for him. 

If the Akatsuki got their hooks into Naruto and his sword; if they could steal that power for themselves…Sakura shuddered.It was bad enough not to know their real intentions, but to imagine them with that kind of power at their fingertips…

“We are willing to grant you access to all of our intelligence on the group,” the old woman cut in.“If you are foolish enough to waste this opportunity-“

“I appreciate the opportunity you are offering us,” Kakashi said, his voice still as sharp as the blade at his hip.“We will contribute to the defense of the kingdom while we are here.Now, if you will excuse us, it has been a long journey.I am sure we will have time to discuss strategy in the days to come.” 

Kakashi stood and bowed harshly, and Sakura had no choice but to meekly follow suit.If he were Naruto, she would have rebuked him for his lack of etiquette.It was an unforgivable diplomatic fumble to leave a gathering hosted by a foreign monarch without proper dismissal.

But this was Kakashi.Surely he had been well trained in diplomacy at some point in his years as a knight (although he certainly had never learned proper manners, so perhaps not). 

Wordlessly Sakura followed him to their assigned chambers, a pair of suites, connected by two doors with respect for the fact that Sakura was currently the squire assigned to Kakashi.She was expected to be near him at all times, to soak up as much mentorship as she possibly could.So far, however, all she had learned at least 30 different ways of avoiding eye contact and how to be gracefully and ungracefully rejected.

Kakashi gestured for her to enter his room and slumped into the chair next to the bed.His expression was a storm, almost crackling with the lightning she knew he could wield at will. 

“The nerve of him,” Kakashi snapped, his hands steepled in thought.He looked less like the good-humored mentor she had known and more like Shikamaru, in the middle of a game of chess. 

“I would say you have your own nerve,” Sakura replied cheekily.“Stomping out of there like that.”

“I did not _stomp_ ,” Kakashi said, “I bowed and scraped like a good dog.But when we get back to Konoha, please tell your knight-master that I am _not_ her trained bear to send on missions like these.” 

“Tell Tsunade yourself,” Sakura said.She sat down daintily on the edge of the provided bed.Gods it would feel divine to sleep in a real bed that night.

“The irresponsibility, calling us out here when he _knows_ Konoha will be attacked again…” Kakashi muttered the words darkly, more to himself than for her benefit.“And for what?Dusty manuscripts and rumors?What intel could they possibly have on the Akatsuki.”

“They attacked us once before,” Sakura replied.“We’ve only taken a dozen fighters with us, the rest of the guard can handle what comes.”But she could understand Kakashi’s anguish.She also wanted to be there to face what might come personally, not trust it into the hands of others. 

“You’re right, Sakura,” Kakashi said, his brow smoothing.Then he sighed, regretfully, once again the carefree rake who had been late to every training session of their page days.“I suppose I will have to bow and scrape a little further to smooth over our relationship with King Gaara.” 

“He likes Naruto, and Naruto has horrible manners,” Sakura replied. 

“You have a point.And he has done us a favor, bringing us here under false pretenses.I doubt Danzo knows of Naruto’s true powers yet, and when he finds out he may not wait for the Akatsuki to assassinate him.” 

This time it was Sakura whose mood darkened.Her interactions with Tsunade’s advisor Lord Danzo had been limited, but Tsunade had warned her away from the man many times.He would gladly have both Tsunade and Sakura executed as sorceresses if he could get even a scrap of evidence that they had healed so much as a bruise. 

“It will come to light someday,” Sakura said.“When it does, we have to be ready.Or change the law.”

“Speaking of which,” Kakashi said, lazily flicking his gaze at Sakura, “you’ve acquired a few new tricks since your page days.”He left the comment to hang innocently in the air, but still, it made Sakura’s stomach sink.There were several conversations Sakura had wanted to avoid with Kakashi, and this one was high on that list. _Why now_ , she wanted to ask.Why not have this conversation on the road, days ago?

“I wanted something of my own,” she admitted, still not quite able to meet his eyes.“I could feel how powerless I was as a page, and Tsunade offered to teach me more than just politics and swordplay.” 

“It’s dangerous,” a sudden edge in his voice, “You could be discovered.And what would happen then?”Sakura twisted her face in response, surprised by the urgency in his tone.What right did he have to pass judgment on her choices? 

But she knew the answer: there was a difference between them. A major difference.

Naruto, who even Kakashi admitted was at risk of being assassinated for his abilities was the king.If Danzo killed him, it could lead the country into war with itself.That alone might temper the danger against him.So many of Konoha’s noble families had mastered techniques that became taboo overnight.The Hatake clan’s tendency for lightning wasn’t the only victim, Tsunade had given Sakura a list of families with a variety of abilities that ranged from healing to outright destruction.Any of these families might be punished for a flagrant display of power, but it was Sakura who had put herself at the greatest risk.While a powerful noble could be forgiven for passing down their family techniques in secret, the Haruno family had no such excuse.Her father had been landed recently, in a show of gratitude for military service from the old king.They had no secret powers to pass down in secret, and Sakura was the first of her family to go for knighthood.It had taken a long and protracted negotiation with her parents to convince them to let their only daughter—their only child—risk her life as a knight.That she had sought out illegal magic would brand her as something far far worse in the eyes of the law.

If it ever came to that. 

“I am willing to take the risk,” she replied, her voice firm.“And I would appreciate you to keep my secrets…unless you’d like to see me burned at the stake?”

“I would never let that happen to you.”The suddenness with which Kakashi’s voice had become a protective growl shocked Sakura.Something in her preened at the promise, wanting to lean into the warmth of his willingness to defend her.She looked down at her hands, struggling against the emotion that had welled up in her throat.

A question burned in her chest, one she could not voice for the terror it summoned in her.She wanted more from him than protection—a terrible burning hunger that would earn her nothing but heartbreak in the end.Words came and died on lips, each inadequate in the face of the promise he had made.It was both so small and everything in the world to Sakura. 

But before she could muster the courage to speak, the room shook around them.Almost instinctively, Sakura reached out to Kakashi who put a hand out to steady her in response. 

“An earthquake?” She gasped, stepping away from him when the shaking of the building finally stopped.She barely registered that she had grabbed his hand, that he had held it tightly through the rocking.

“We should be so lucky,” he said, following her into the hall.It was pandemonium, as though no one else thought they had suffered a mere earthquake either.Guards rushed through the halls, alarm bells rang an endless tenor of warning. 

Kakashi grabbed his sword, gesturing for Sakura to follow with a nod of his head. She pursued, her own blade already unsheathed in her hand. 

Downstairs the chaos had grown into a deafening swell.One thing became immediately obvious to Sakura, Sunagakure had been battered by the Akatsuki attacks.Gaara had not been fully forthcoming about the extent to which they had faced an onslaught.It was true that Sunagakure was prepared for more, but every guardsman she saw wore bandages over recent injuries. Sets of armor showed seams where repairs had been hastily completed and she noticed more than one chipped sword in the hands of a limping fighter. 

The Akatsuki had not just been conducting raids on Sunagakure.They had been leading a siege.How long had this gone on before Gaara had written for Konoha’s aid?And why hadn’t they called for a proper mobilization of their alliance?Instead, Konoha had offered them nothing but a ragtag band of guardsman and a single knight, thinking they had seen the same night-time raids. 

Sakura and Kakashi did not have to run long to find the actual fighting.But nothing had prepared her for what she saw.Sakura had expected a proper attacking force, or perhaps the same puppetry that had tormented Konoha.Instead, monsters faced off against the Sunagakure forces.Puppets made of dust and clay sparred with guardsmen, their limbs serving as weapons, club and talons and spears that stretched out to skewer the flesh of their enemies.

In perfect agreement, Sakura and Kakashi dove into the confusion.The clay monstrosities paid no mind to the difference between Sunagakure and Konoha forces, and soon Sakura was separated from Kakashi, drawn into a protracted conflict and the routine clanging of metal of clay, the screams of the injured, and one attacker rising up after another fell.It seemed to go on for hours, an endless season of butchery.Where one enemy was vanquished by a stroke of Sakura’s blade another rose in its place ready to meet her.When she could get a glimpse of the other Sunagakure fighters, Sakura could see nothing but bone-deep weariness carved into their faces. 

How many times had they risen to fight the same inexhaustible enemy?How many of these monsters had they been forced to face as their forces dwindled due injury and fatalities with every attack?This was her first battle against them and already Sakura could feel the frustration setting in. Through it all, Sakura kept a careful watch for glimpses of silver hair and the telltale lighting that was Kakashi, to know he was still alive, and still fighting.Each sighting made her heart squeeze in relief and worry, grateful that he had not fallen, but terrified that at any moment she would see him bloodied and broken, brought down by one of the creatures.

Until…a rush of sand flooded the battlefield, colliding with the clay creature Sakura was fighting.She turned, looking for her next opponent, but could only see Gaara, clad in armor, holding Desert Promise above him, unsheathed and ready for battle. 

The sight was enough to inspire the Sunagakure forces who rejoined the fight with renewed vigor.This was the inspiration a king could offer his people on the battlefield, the promise that sorcery could give to a nation’s fighters.Even Sakura herself could feel the effect, her energy buoyed by the sudden appearance of the sorcerer-king.He lashed through the onslaught with sand, at each corner rescuing fighters that were tiring, unable to come to their own defense. 

Her heart seized with a terrible realization: he could not defend himself against an attack like this.Sakura knew sorcery, knew the concentration it took to lift the smallest stone.If Gaara was so focused on rescuing his forces, he would be defenseless in the face of a direct attack. 

She continued to strike and strike and strike and strike, cutting a ribbon through the battlefield to reach the king, to throw herself in his defense.How did this end?When would the onslaught stop? 

What was the purpose of this?

A giant form arose almost from nowhere, half-spider, half-man, made of wood and metal and sand, clicking in murderous menace before Gaara.She could see the embattled king register the attacker and step backward, once, without pausing his tide of sand.Gaara bared his teeth in fury at the thing but did not bring a single grain of sand to his own defense.

Sakura picked up her pace, desperate to make it to the king’s side.All of this would be truly meaningless if Gaara fell here.No, she could not let herself think through that possibility.They had to keep fighting, to find a way to break through this wall.With renewed urgency, Sakura tumbled past the latest animated beast that appeared before her to get to the spider attacking the king.

One pointed leg came down to strike her, dripping with what she could only assume was venom, but she was still off-balance from her breakneck pace.She fumbled, trying to block but could _feel_ how slowly she was moving and braced herself for the imminent strike.

Until a blade laced with lightning knocked the spider’s leg away from her, and Kakashi’s arm reached around her torso, pulling her out of danger. 

They shared a battle-weary smile before she pulled out of his grasp to attack the spider with renewed vigor, this time with Kakashi at her side.

It was like a dance, fighting beside Kakashi.He had been one of her first teachers, and beside him in battle, she could see the way their fighting styles complimented each other— a fluid exchange of attacks, timing strikes to perfectly that the spider-creature could barely lift a limb in defense. 

And then the final blow, a flourish of steel as Sakura drove her sword through its human chest, into the creature’s heart.Kakashi complimented the strike with his own, sliding his blade through its neck joint, beheading it and sending the snapping jaws of the beast tumbling onto the castle’s stone floor. 

For one glorious moment, she allowed herself a feeling of triumph, and the battle itself seemed to quell its fury.It was never safe to claim victory until after a battle when beers could be shared and there as little chance for a final surprise attack, but she could almost taste it on the wind.

Until a bird so large it blocked out the sun landed on a nearby window, it’s looming figure casting part of the embattled hallway into shadow. 

“I told him we should have attacked immediately,” a high, almost whiny voice said more to itself than anyone else.Sakura barely registered that the voice came from the bird’s direction as her eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness.“And I told him that his puppets were worthless in battle.Oh well, I suppose I’ll have to take care of things.”

Then, before she summon more than the slightest of wards around herself and Kakashi, a wave of clay and sand hit her in the chest and knocked her to the ground.Sakura was still dressed in traveling clothes and had no armor to defend her from the blow.Without the ward, she would have certainly been knocked unconscious.Sakura’s knees hit the pavement with a painful crack. Beside her, she could see Kakashi through a cloud of dust similarly knocked prone.Her ears rang from the assault, and her eyes watered in surprise and irritation from the dust. 

Footsteps rang on the pavement, and Sakura barely registered that the entire hallway had gone eerily quiet after the blast.She could make out figures littered across the ground, sent scattering by the blast.Whether they were dead or merely unconscious, Sakura could not tell. 

She struggled to get up, her limbs suddenly weak and trembling.The only other movement she could see was Kakashi, also conscious and fighting against sore limbs to stand.She watched him for a moment begin to rise, then stop, before lowering himself again to lie flat against the castle floor.Then, the unknown assailant entered her field of vision.First, she saw the livery, the red clouds on a field of black that marked a member of the Akatsuki.He was blonde, with long feminine hair pulled up in a ponytail and a cutting smile.She struggled to find Gaara in the chaos, but he was out of her range of sight. 

“I told you we should have done this from the start,” he said to someone out of Sakura’s field of view.“Much faster.” 

“We lured the boy king out of his cave.”This voice she knew.It was the low growl of the Akatsuki member that had attacked Konoha, that had tried to goad her into following him.Before she could react, a hand flew to hers: Kakashi.He caught her gaze and shook his head slightly. _Wait,_ his expression seemed to say. 

Sakura complied, heart beating in her ears, as she waited for a sign, a signal, _something_ to mark that the time for waiting was over. 

More footsteps as the blonde Akatsuki member left her field of vision and the familiar figure of the creature of gears and clockwork that had terrorized the castle, that had turned friend against friend like so many puppets, stepped in front of her.It became a struggle to stay down, to fight against the urge to face the creature directly. 

“Hmm,” it said, and Sakura did not dare look up to see if it had noticed her.“Take him.” 

“Already done.”Suddenly the blonde Akatsuki member was back, Gaara slung over his shoulder and one foot on the windowsill like he stood ready to fling himself out of it.Sakura could see Desert Promise, hastily strapped to the Akatsuki member’s back.The treasure of Sunagakure, the decider of dynasties, was about to fall into the hands of a roving pack of bandits.He threw Gaara over the back of the bird, which Sakura could now see was made out of clay, and mounted behind it. 

“Don’t have too much fun,” he said to the beast before flying off.

This was the signal.Kakashi exploded into action, Sakura shortly behind him.The creature skittered backward, surprised to see that anyone had managed to make it through the blast still conscious. 

Before Kakashi could get his hands on the creature, it was skittering out the window.In wordless agreement, Sakura and Kakashi were running, out of the castle and into the street.This time there was no moat for the monster to escape into, nowhere for it to run but into the endless sands of the desert.

* * *

They were fortunate. Although Shannaro and Chidori were both too tired from the long journey, Sakura and Kakashi managed to grab fresh mounts from the stable.In the chaos of the attack, the Sunagakure stableboy had done his duty and prepared horses for any fighters they might need.The pair lost minutes instead of hours taking the fresh horses and following the trail left by the Akatasuki’s beast. 

Although the other Akatsuki member was fleeing, it’s clay monsters were there to carry on the fight. Despite her anguish at the sight, Sakura and Kakashi could not stop to aid villagers or guardsmen in their fight.They could not risk losing their only lead at finding Gaara.Instead, they could only ride faster, and pray that as the Akatsuki left the town their clay monsters would die without reinforcements. 

Meanwhile, it seemed the Akatsuki beast was everywhere, moving slowly enough to remain in sight but faster than their mounts.Sakura could not escape the feeling that it was taunting them, leading them into a trap for its own pleasure.But even as she puzzled over this they continued to ride out of the town and into the surrounding desert.Out of the city walls, the wind was harsh with sand, as though the sand itself had risen at the kidnapping of its young king and now whirled its fury against the desert intruders.

Finally, the creature stopped.Sakura could not see Sunagakure, could not see anything but the relentless crush of sand that whipped around them.There would be no aid for Kakashi and Sakura out here.

“Persistent,” it growled.Was that a faint tenor of pleasure in the screech of its voice?Rage made her dismount the borrowed horse and unsheathe her blade, taking one step, then another towards the thing.

“Where _is he_? _”_ she demanded, reading for a strike. 

But the creature was unfazed, sidestepping her blow with ease.

“I remember you,” the creature said, taking in Sakura’s form.“The fighter in Konoha.”

“And I remember _you,” she_ spat back, summoning the power Tsunade had given her.It welled through her veins, washing away the exhaustion of the journey and the ache of the explosion.The creature stood before her calmly, no expression on its masked face.But before she could unleash her power, Kakashi put a hand on her shoulder. 

“Don’t forget what we’re really after,” he said, pointing at the sky. 

The clay mount of their other enemy circled above, just low enough for Sakura to make out the form of its riders through the sand.It aimed for the mountains, for what nefarious end she could not imagine. They had not lost the trail, not yet.There was still time to retrieve Gaara.She could not waste her energy on a grudge.More was at stake here than petty vengeance. 

She nodded at Kakashi before looking over her shoulder at the beast.“We’ll settle this later.” 

But before she could follow him in mounting up, a wall of spears rose from the sand, blocking her path from Kakashi.

She lept back, whirling on the creature.Somehow it had summoned the blades from the sand itself to block her path.Her mouth went dry at the display of power.

“You are my opponent,” it rasped. 

Sakura drew her blade, suddenly certain of what she had to do.“Go,” she ordered Kakashi.“I can handle this.”She hoped she sounded braver than she felt.They could not afford to waste the time for her to escape, not when this creature demanded a fight.Kakashi had to follow the clay bird’s trail.If Gaara was killed now, he had no clear heir to entrust the realm to.Without the Desert Promise to choose the next king, a succession crisis could destabilize the realm, or worse, launch it into a civil war.It had happened before, in several nations. 

But still, Kakashi hesitated. 

“Go,” Sakura repeated, leaning forward against the steel spears blocking their path.Kakashi was in reach, visibly torn by the decision.It struck her that this could be the last time they saw each other.That either one of them could fall in battle. 

That it was not Kakashi, the war-hardened veteran in the most danger that day. 

If she was to die, she would die without loose ends.Sakura gripped Kakashi’s tunic, pulling him close. 

“Go,” she ordered a third time.Before he could stop her, Sakura reached up and pulled Kakashi’s mask down.

Without room for hesitation, Sakura kissed him. Just once, just for a moment, just to finish what they started before this monster scattered her blood into the sand of Sunagakure to leave her forgotten by history. 

Kakashi’s teeth nipped at her bottom lip in silent approval, before she tore herself away from the contact.

“This is an order from your commanding officer,” Kakashi said firmly.“Come back alive.”

And then he was gone, mounting his horse and racing into the distance to pursue the disappearing figure in the sky.As he too vanished in the whirl of the sands, she took one shaky breath tucking the memory of his touch away and summoning her reserves of strength.It did not matter that she was an untested squire, that she was only a sorceress in training.She had been given an order. 

Sakura Haruno turned to face her enemy. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading you guys!!!! I love love love all your comments, and I'm so glad you guys are enjoying!!! I hope you guys are all doing well and staying safe out there!


	9. I. First Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you guys so much for all your comments!! Sorry this took so long to post, and double sorry that it doesn't necessarily pick up the threads of Sakura and Sasori!!!

I. First Interlude

Sai did not like the capital city of Konoha.It was a new thing, this having preferences.They had suddenly crept into his thoughts, like a well-organized infiltration. They bubbled into his throat, filling his tastebuds with acid when confronted with the object of his disgust.And yet he had not expected that he would come to despise an entire city.It was a massive thing, as though he hated the very air he was forced to breathe.And despite his best efforts, it welled up into him as he completed the morning drills and readied himself to face his first opponent for the round of sparring that had become routine.

Across from him stood Ino Yamanaka, blonde and confident and overwhelmingly rude.Once again he found himself facing a noblewoman who had little business on the battlefield.This was more of a trend in Konoha than he had been led to believe. Sai had been trained amongst boys to become the perfect blade to be wielded in the kingdom’s defense.He had never been confronted with girls, not the girls who haunted the halls of the castle with gossip on their lips and flowers in their hair, and especially not this new type of girl.Girls who wielded steel with fire in their eyes despite all the logic of their world.It was confusing, fighting these girls.First, the pink-haired squire, who he had _spared_ against orders and better judgment.And now this blonde fury who seemed determined to batter him to death with her wooden practice sword.

But he had been confronted by many confusing things since his arrival at the capital city of Konoha.It was built on contradictions, girls with swords and boy kings with too much power, and too little sense of duty. 

He missed the quiet of the training yard, the quiet house where he had first learned to wield a sword.In the days before it had become a graveyard, it had been peaceful.Not like the noisy stone streets of this town, where everywhere he turned someone was speaking.Their voices seemed to echo along the walls to assault his ears with rudeness and unnecessary observations. 

Much like the way Ino’s voice lashed out at him as surely as any blade, as he blocked her pummeling strikes and ultimately disarmed her. 

“A good battle,” he said, bowing formally.Dueling etiquette was not the kind of thing he had practiced in his training, but he had read it was expected of knights.Instead, Ino looked up at him with a puzzled expression before bursting into a harsh staccato laugh. 

“Gods you’re so formal, you’re like one of those _old_ knights in storybooks,” she said, dusting herself off. “But you’re good with a sword.I can’t believe you lost to Forehead.” 

This was the most confusing part of life in the capital.When he had been told to come to this place, he had expected to spend months ingratiating himself with the supposed ruler of the realm.Instead, King Naruto had accepted him readily, inviting him to spar with them in the mornings.Their group was made up of a few select squires that seemed to know the king from his page days. 

Sai had, of course, received intelligence on all of them, but what his intelligence could not answer was why they all flocked around one another, in one large mass of people that threatened to overwhelm Sai with their noise.Any of them were willing to spar with him, ready to share gossip and information.They had no idea how valuable the snippets of gossip they easily tossed around could be.The only one who seemed like a proper squire, who knew the carnage that awaited outside these walls, was the king’s new shadow: Sasuke Uchiha. 

The traitor himself stood to the side of the scene, watching the entire tableaux with narrowed eyes.Like called to like, and so Sai knew that Sasuke was watching the group with the same eager intent.But where Sai was gathering intelligence for Lord Danzo, steward of the realm, Sasuke’s motives were a mystery.

And that made them a threat.

Since the tournament,Lord Danzo had only asked him to gather intelligence on the new king, but Sai had widened the scope of his investigation.It was an act of redemption, to make up for his failure to claim victory by maiming the Haruno girl. 

Besides, the mission he had been assigned, to investigate King Naruto, could easily be completed by anyone with a pulse. The contours of his character were easy to see: he was rash, arrogant, reckless, and more interested in slashing away with his practice sword than mastering any kind of political finesse.King Naruto was unfit to rule in every way imaginable. 

At the moment, King Naruto was unsuccessfully trying to goad Sasuke into a fight.

“That’s because you know I’d win,” Naruto shouted across the training yard, his voice loud enough to be heard all the way in Sunagakure.“And how bad would that look?You’re supposed to protect me!”

“I can still beat you with both hands tied behind my back,” Sasuke said back, although not nearly as loudly.Only Sai noticed a trace of a smile cross Sasuke’s face, not the confident look of disdain he usually wore but an unguarded moment of fondness.Sai tucked the look away to consider later, the uncharacteristic humanity that had not been marked anywhere in Sasuke’s file.He had been told that Sasuke despised the young king, had been warned to be on the lookout for attempts on his life. 

But before they could get a demonstration of this handless fighting prowess, the bells marking the end of the morning hour rang, calling them to move on with their business.With a murmured goodbye to Ino, who still lingered in his field of vision, Sai departed.Dutifully, Sai slipped into the shadows to continue his observations.He would report to Lord Danzo that night with his findings, although he did not expect to have much to report.King Naruto would do as he always did, which was an attempt to take his horse for a ride in the countryside, alone.The stablehands would not allow it, citing concerns about the king’s safety, which would lead to a protracted conflict with the regent, Lady Tsunade. 

It was a tired routine, one Sai had witnessed from the shadows several times already.The battle for Naruto’s right to be reckless had not been decisively won yet, but day by day Lady Tsunade was making strides. 

It would not be enough to please Lord Danzo.

It would do little against the debit on his record for showing the pink-haired squire mercy in their battle.It had been a foolish, heat of the moment decision, the kind that he would come to regret for the next days and months and possibly years. 

He had not liked her either.But there was something about the way she had struggled in their match, the distinctly unknightly way that she had fought, that took him to another place.Another practice field, unmarked by an audience and covered in blood. 

And in that moment his sword hand had hesitated, just enough to give her the advantage.To give her the victory.It had been after this that Sai’s mission changed from it’s original purpose into nothing but observation and intelligence gathering.

Lord Danzo had not said as much, but the acid in his tone promised punishment to come.Later, when this mission was settled and the need to maintain a cover was over, Lord Danzo would weigh and measure his disobedience against his meager success and charge him the balance. 

One benefit to this exercise was that it gave Sai the opportunity to closely observe the comings and goings of other important players in the castle.Lady Tsunade was always of interest to Danzo, and observing Naruto gave him the chance to also spy on their various meetings. 

So when Naruto disappeared into Tsunade’s office, Sai settled in to wait.

He expected nothing more than monotony, the continuation of his routine. 

Not for it to be shattered into so much dust.

Lady Tsunade emerged from her office, Naruto in tow.She seemed to be muttering something about insufferable old fools, which may have been in reference to Lord Danzo.However, it was also just as likely she was referring to Jiraiya, the old hermit-warrior, so Sai chose not to take offense. 

Naruto was slouching, as though he had just been thoroughly chastised.His voice was loud and grating, and it distracted Sai from more important things.More important, in this case, being the roll of white smoke across the stone pavement, slowly shrouding them all up to the knees. 

It was this deep into the smoke that the alarm bells began to sound in Sai’s instincts- an unforgivably delayed reaction.Tsunade acted first, grabbing the king and forcing him behind her, stepping backward until Naruto was pressed against the wall.The regent drew her sword, ready for battle. 

It was not in Sai’s orders to enter the battle or lift a hand in response to the threat to Naruto’s life.Fighting instincts that demanded battle, he melted further into the shadows to watch and wait.His vantage point was ideal for him to catch sight of the first Akatsuki member to enter the hallway.This was the second time the Akatsuki had attacked the castle directly; surely someone would have closed the gaps in security on the city walls?But based on the confident way the tall man entered Sai’s view, he had not faced any opposition during his invasion. 

The Akatsuki member was tall, with the high features and bluish tinged skin of the people of the Land of Waves.The sword on his back, a massive claymore that radiated menace, confirmed his history.The Land of Waves was full of sword obsessed mercenaries—it was not a surprise to see that one had defected into the Akatsuki’s ranks. 

He struck the Lady Tsunade across the face. For just a moment, she seemed to _flicker_ as though the strike had hit more than flesh, and then she was back upright, a guttural snarl freeing itself from her throat as she launched herself at the man. 

Their fight was fast and intense, but not overwhelmingly interesting.Although thoroughly trained with a sword, Sai did not have a particular fetish for watching people slash at each other.Especially not when the real source of his interest—the king— was making moves as though he planned to get involved in this clash.Naruto clenched the hilt of his blade once and then let go, a hesitation.Sai narrowed his focus on that one gesture.It was the Will of Fire at the king’s hip, the ancient decider of kings and leveler of empires.Although a massive disinformation campaign had convinced the peasantry of the countryside that the feats of its history were nothing but myth, Sai knew better.An ignorant fool was of no use to Lord Danzo, and so he had been granted certain _protected_ information. 

Would King Naruto break his own predecessor’s laws and use that power?Would the Akatsuki be a great enough of a threat so as to damn him?The mere suggestion that Naruto had used the blade would be enough to win him favor with Lord Danzo once again. 

But there was no luck for Sai that day.A second Akatsuki fighter entered the hallway, his footsteps masked by the sound of Tsunade’s sword clashing against the giant Claymore of the Land of Waves.The confusion of one fight allowed the second man to step past them and stand directly before the king.

The two Akatsuki members were a study in contrasts: where the first man was broad and born for battle, the other was a living shadow.Where mere mortals had to walk, he seemed to disappear into darkness, only to suddenly reappear in a different location.

It took the space of Sai’s ability to register the man’s identity for all hell to break loose.Sasuke tumbled out of from some secret hiding place, clearly having also been observing Naruto’s movements, and launched himself at the man. 

Itachi Uchiha barely registered the challenge.

Unlike the straightforward fighting of before, _this_ was a fight to watch.The polished way Tsunade and the man from the Kingdom of Waves exchanged blows contrasted vividly with the feral rush of Sasuke attempting to crush his brother into the earth with all the force he could muster.Naruto also seemed to be entranced, standing in the middle of the chaos with his sword unsheathed, gaze darting from side to side as though struggling with the indecision of where best to strike.But just as quickly, Naruto seemed to rise from his confusion, unleashing himself on Sasuke’s enemy.It was a gallant display of loyalty, to abandon the regent to her own battles and aid his friend-turned-enemy-turned-Champion in a quest for ancient vengeance.And it did little to turn the tide. 

Sai knew a mismatch when he saw one.His survival had been dictated by his ability to evade losing battles, to outsmart stronger opponents, and when that failed, to be the first to strike a killing blow.Sasuke and Naruto, even as a combined force, had little hope of accomplishing any of these against the older Uchiha. 

Worse, they seemed to tangle themselves up against Tsunade’s fight, tripping the older woman and taking away what little advantage she could gain in the close quarters of the hallway.That too was a losing battle: the massive swordsman from the Land of Waves with his claymore versus the smaller, aging woman who had spent the last four years confined to a desk. 

It was not Sai’s role to shape the course of history directly, not without the orders of his betters.He would not intervene, despite the unnerving desire singing in his blood, demanding to enter the fight.He would not step in, even as the three of them died here in the hall.

For that was the only possible outcome.He knew it the instant Itachi waved his hand in the air, his rasping voice issuing one command. 

“ _Stop this._ ” 

And they did.All four of them, although the second Akatsuki member seemed to stop only because he was out of opponents to hack at.Tsunade, Naruto, Sasuke, even Sai himself, were frozen in the thrall of this sorcerer, this traitor to Konoha, this murderer.

This was the Itachi Uchiha who had unleashed forbidden magic on his own bloodline, who had claimed his parents’ lives before disappearing into a moonlit wilderness.The sight of his entire noble house, dead in their own manor, had been a terrible sight to behold according to all accounts of the wake of the slaughter. 

Worst of all had been the single survivor, a shellshocked boy standing in the midst of the corpses of everyone who had ever cared for him. 

Sai imagined that look now as he examined the wide-eyed shock on Sasuke’s face.Was this the look he had first worn to greet his death eleven years ago? 

Itachi did Sasuke the dignity of sparing him a glance, before pushing him to the side and gripping the front of Naruto’s tunic.He was taller than the young king and lifted him easily. Naruto’s toes brushed the ground as Itachi examined the boy’s face as if searching for some fault line of weakness.To give Naruto the shred of credit he was due, Sai would note in his report to Lord Danzo the way he did not flinch.Naruto only gritted his teeth and glared up at Itachi, unyielding. 

“L-let…go…of…him…”

Tsunade’s words were spat through gritted teeth, but they alarmed both Itachi and his companion.Somehow she had broken through the spell.Sai could see it, as her fingers struggled in their grasp on the hilt of her blade. 

“We need to hurry,” the man from the Land of Waves ordered Itachi. 

“Take him, Kisame,” Itachi replied, shoving Naruto forward.Then he turned on his brother as if to finish the work he had begun all those years ago.But before he could bring a hand down to strike the killing blow, a thunderclap deafened them, ringing through the hall with enough resonance to force Kisame to drop the king, to force Itachi’s hands to his ears. 

And at the center of it: Tsunade.Her hand’s still clasped together as though she had merely clapped, the way she would clap for dinner to be served at formal events, the way she would silence a meeting with a gesture.

But this…this was different.This was the sorcery Lord Danzo had claimed she could wield, had gone so far as to warn Sai of before he had brought him to this place. 

Seizing the advantage, she swung, lashing out at the swordsman—Kisame--who dodged narrowly.But she had given the game away.The noise would draw the guard and then the two Akatsuki members, capable though they might be, would be outnumbered like foxes in a hunt. 

They knew it too- sharing a glance that spoke volumes, written with irritation and a promise of future violence.Kisame was already standing in the windowsill, ready to make some gravity-defying escape, as Itachi turned on his brother.

He put two fingers on the younger man’s forehead; a tap that would seem affectionate to the uninformed observer.Then he said something, in a tone too low for any but his brother to hear, before stepping up on the ceiling and wrapping Kisame in his cloak of darkness. 

Then- “Goodbye,” he said with a formal bow, before disappearing completely. 

A display of manners, confusing in its application.Useful for building a continued relationship, but worthless on the battlefield. 

“Tsunade, what did you _do?!_ ”Naruto’s sudden shout was more in excitement than horror, for all that his regent had betrayed the laws of the land she was allegedly sworn to. 

“Never,” she hissed, grabbing both Naruto and Sasuke by the forearm.“ _Never_ speak of what you saw.” 

Sasuke had already recovered from the brush with Itachi, forcing himself into an icy composure.Sai could not divine the mechanisms of his thoughts, but the young man nodded in acquiesence nonetheless.Naruto’s gaze, however, was easy to interpret.Naked admiration, confusion, dismay all danced around his features.But before the king could respond, a handful of guards had rushed into the hallway.Even without their taskmaster Knight-Captain present, their response time was swift.

“The Akatsuki attacked again you _buffoons,”_ Tsunade snarled, taking control immediately.“You’re lucky we’ve appointed a Champion to guard the king or else we’d all be making royal funeral plans.”She did not claim the explosion of sound; far easier to pass the blame off to the known criminals that had apparently escaped.

Giving the victory to Sasuke was unexpected, but Sai measured its merits as he watched Tsunade issue orders to the guards.Perhaps it was an attempt at earning the young man’s loyalty.No ruler would completely trust the silent promises of a former traitor.Loyalty had to be earned and compromises made.

This was the real core of Konoha: secrets and intrigue and broken oaths.At any moment a courtier could stab a friend in the back, a brother could slaughter his entire family, a regent could be executed for sorcery.It was why Tsunade had been so desperate to control the situation, to secure Naruto and Sasuke’s silence, and direct the guards away from wondering just how, exactly, they had fought the Akatsuki attackers off.

How unfortunate, then, that she had failed to secure the loyalties of _all_ the witnesses. 

No, Sai did not like the capital city.Not in the slightest. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry this took so long to get out!! Switching POVs was more challenging than I expected?! I have a soft spot for Sai but the boy is Challenging to Figure Out. 
> 
> I'm looking forward to getting back in the real action now, haha.


	10. ix.  a machine in an insensate universe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg I am SO sorry this took so long to post. Somehow life happened and it didn't stop happening and this is also the longest action sequence I've ever written in my life. Thank you again for your comments and for sticking with me!!!

ix.a machine in an insensate universe

Kakashi rode harder than he had ever ridden in his life.He pushed his horse to keep pace with the blot in the sky that was his prey, though with every step it took him further away from Sakura.They seemed to ride an eternity, as the soft yellow sands turned into red clay and the sound of the borrowed horses hooves echoed off the sides of canyon walls.Just when Kakashi began to fear his horse could take no more, the bird landed. 

They had reached mountains, a range that he had seen shimmering on the horizon from the capital of Sunagakure.The horse slowed, as though sensing Kakashi’s trepidation as they reached a rocky cliff face that marked the end of the canyon. His only exit was the way he had come.Above him, the clay bird had landed at the very edge of the canyon, blocking the sun and casting a shadow that seemed to darken the entire canyon basin.

A tiny figure dismounted from the bird, and then dropped down, down the side of the canyon to land on his feet.It was a further drop than any ordinary human should be able to make without breaking their neck.Kakashi could _hear_ the landing, and his horse skittered backward in surprise.But Kakashi was coming to realize that the Akatsuki were far from ordinary, wielding more power than any mortal had a right to.The blonde man stood in the center of a crater, barely armored, the only sign that he had survived a sixty-foot drop the blonde hairs that had come undone from his ponytail. 

“I could just leave you here to die,” the man said, his high voice echoing along the stone walls.“These mountains are a labyrinth, you know.”

“Any why not do it?”Kakashi challenged, dismounting from the borrowed horse and drawing his sword.

“To show you mercy,” the man said with a smile, extending both his arms as though to embrace Kakashi.“And to give you a gift.”

Kakashi always hated chatty opponents, all style and no substance.But he had seen this man blow up parts of Sunagakure’s castle, had seen him survive a sixty-foot drop.The Akatsuki was a mercenary group, until now known only for lightning strikes on the borders of various nations.But every confrontation he had with the group suggested that they were more than that.If each member of the Akatsuki wielded this kind of power, they were a true danger.It was a mercenary group that could do more than snatch the livelihoods of peasants and destroy farmland. 

It could topple kingdoms.

“Spare me your gifts,” Kakashi replied, his voice firm.“Release your captive and I’ll spare your life.” 

His enemy’s laugh echoed across the canyon walls, reverberating its staccato tempest into Kakashi’s very bones. 

“I do like a confident enemy.It is always satisfying to change an audience’s mind.” The man reached a hand into his sleeve, unleashing a handful of clay directly at Kakashi.He ducked, instinctively, letting the objects pass him by.But that did not stop the wicked smile that grew on his opponent’s face.

No, as the objects—explosives—hit their mark, Kakashi’s stomach sank.The blast that reverberated across the canyon was enough to deafen even his opponent: the blonde Akatsuki member threw both his hands over his ears to ward off the assault of sound.Kakashi mirrored him, dodging gravel and dust that filled the air.It choked in his lungs and burned his eye, shrouding his opponent out of view. 

He dropped into a battle-ready stance, waiting for an assault that never came.Slowly, Kakashi’s senses returned to him.His vision returned first as the dust settled, revealing the true damage of the blast.

It had triggered a collapse of the side of the canyon walls, sending boulders tumbling down from ancient outposts and into the narrow valley, fully enclosing the space.

He would not be able to flee.

“The name’s Deidara.” His enemy said, audible even over the roar in Kakashi’s ears.“Remember that in the afterlife.”

* * *

Sakura’s opponent had not moved for the entire space of her farewell with Kakashi.But the moment she turned away from Kakashi, the creature spoke again in gravelly tones.

“And so we begin,” it said, casting off it’s Akatsuki cloak. 

If Sakura had not been facing death, she would have been fascinated.The creature walked on all fours, but on hands shaped like a man’s.It was dressed for battle like a knight, with boots and a proper cuirass.But from it’s back rose the menacing scorpion tail she had seen in Konoha.

And at the base of the tail…a mask.Contorted into a mocking smile, like a mummer’s mask; the tail rose from it like a tongue in a lewd promise of death.

As Sakura took the measure of her enemy, it struck, the scorpion tail arching for her face.It was as though he had been watching the entire exchange, waiting to face her head-on.Sakura blocked with her sword just in time, the tail deflecting harmlessly.

Mentally she cursed her traveling clothes: light leather armor meant for travel.It was a far cry from the armor she would have worn had she known what awaited her here on the sands.It would cost her energy to maintain magical wards, but without them, she would not last long.She was good with a sword, but she could not parry the thing’s strikes with perfect accuracy. 

The magic’s familiar warmth rushed through her, wrapping itself around her ready to come to her defense.She could only hope it did not take her before her opponent did.

“You are bold to come out here so unprepared,” the creature said, his voice gravelly rasp. 

“I didn’t _plan_ to fight you like this,” she hissed, more to herself than the monster.She wasn’t interested in conversation.Every vein her body pulsed with the need to destroy the thing, to follow Kakashi in pursuit of Gaara, to reunite with him as quickly as possible.

The only thing standing in her way was this monster unleashed by the Akatsuki. 

“And still you rose to the challenge,” the creature said.It circled her, moving too fast for its four-legged form, it’s tail lashing out at random as though testing her wards.Unlike Sakura, it was in no hurry, willing to lazily strike as the moment suited it. 

She could not let it set the pace for long. Her only weapon was her sword, made of common steel and perfectly ordinary, and the sorcery Tsunade had armed her with.A poisoned chalice that could spell her death. 

But here in the desert with no witnesses, it would be her salvation.

“This is an ancient place,” the creature said.“When you die, the sand will strip your flesh, and no one will find your bones.Not for centuries.”While it spoke, the steel scorpion tail loomed overhead, pointed malice in form, ready to strike at a moment's notice. 

With a roar, Sakura lashed out with her sword.The creature blocked with its tail, parrying, and moving for a strike; but this was what she wanted.She leaned, allowing the tail to slice through her sleeve and no more.But now, it was extended, unable to move quickly to defend again.Summoning extra strength from that well of power within, Sakura struck.Her blade hit true: sliding through the tail.It struck the sand, sending a wave of sand in its wake, striking both Sakura and the creature in the face. 

She had expected it, but still, there was a moment of disappointment when the creature did not roar in pain at the loss of its limb. Pain, however, was not the point.Disarmed it would have to strike her directly, putting itself directly in harm’s way. 

Sakura, in this case, being that harm.

Which it did, rising up on its back legs to lash out at Sakura with it’s hands, which she could now see were tipped with metal, and curved for dealing in death. 

Her dodge was narrow, rolling out of its way.The creature’s talon’s managed to swipe at her tunic, and as Sakura hit the wall of spears it had summoned, she could _hear_ the cloth sizzle.Her sleeve, where the tail had lashed out, stank of burning cloth.

As though it was insufficient to be made of wood and steel, to be faster than a man and armed with talons and a scorpion tail, the creature was also poisonous.Based on the acrid smell of her clothes, it was a fast working poison, practically an acid.Sparing a glance at the burnt holes in her clothes, Sakura was struck with the thought that she had no desire to see what it would do in her bloodstream.Somewhere, in the parts of her psyche that she had buried, she was afraid. 

But to live to old age, a knight had to quell that instinct—past the boundaries of what was possible for a mortal, killing the ancient instincts to flee death and rise to any challenge without flinching.This was the purpose of the Proving, the final challenge all squires must face to prove they could look death in the eye in defense of Konoha.To prove they would not be the first to look away.

Sakura would not flinch away from this. 

The creature was fast, but she could be clever.It did not bleed like a man for all that it had stolen the form.She waited, just long enough for the creature to approach for another strike and then raised her blade.

The sword struck true, in the center of the creature’s head.It should have been a killing blow, enough to sever into skull and brain matter. 

Instead, it glanced to the side. 

The wood had was too strong, her strength insufficient.Her efforts were rewarded with a pummeling strike, this time a fist, knocking her aside and into the wall of spears that ringed the battlefield.She struck with enough force to knock the air out of her lungs, the metal speartip cutting through her traveling tunic and into her shoulder.Agony lancing through her body, she released her sword, and her only weapon slid out of her palm and into the sands of the desert on the other side of the barrier and out of her grasp. The strike had come so quickly, that she knew if the creature tried again she would be defenseless.But it hung back, as though…curious about her next move.

“What will you do now?”It hissed.“Without your stone walls and steel toys.With no blade to wave about in your defense.No one to hear your final words.”

He was _toying_ with her.

A good knight would not let rage get the better of her.A good knight would bravely face the challenge before her without emotion, and certainly without rising to any bait.

But Sakura was not yet a knight.

Some could use sorcery to create projectiles; like Kakashi, they could bend the elements to their will.But nothing of the sort had been passed down to Sakura. No, even armed with sorcery, all she had was herself.

But it was enough. 

Mustering her power, sending it coursing through her veins and twisting into every fiber of her muscles, Sakura grabbed the spear that had bit into her shoulder.It was a wicked thing, rusted and ancient with a barbed spearhead that promised death. 

The magic pulsed through her, enhancing her speed and speed and control, allowing the impossible.Sakura twisted, driving the spear straight through the head of the beast.

They froze like that, her weapon trapped in the creature’s metal skull.What passed for its eyes were completely crushed, and its legs gave out beneath it. 

Her senses seemed to come back to her then, every nerve in her body suddenly aware of the silence of the desert and the heat of the sun beating down upon her.She willed her fingers to relax on the wooden pole, stepping away from the corpse, but her legs were not ready to move.

It seemed as though she was rooted to the spot, hit with the first wave of exhaustion as the adrenaline receded.So she was close enough to see the mask shift, opening the creature’s back.

From the hidden compartment rose…a boy.No, a young man about her age,dressed simply in only a tunic and breeches.The cloth of his garment bore the now familiar red clouds of the Akatsuki. 

He clapped, slow and rhythmic, a mocking applause.

“Very good,” he almost seemed to purr as he spoke.“Now, let us truly begin.”

* * *

Kakashi would not give his opponent time to recover.He was on Deidara before the blonde man could get words out, summoning lighting into a spear, ready to strike and strike and strike and do what he was best at, do what he would be known for when all was said and done, and he was dead.

Killing.

At the last instant, Deidara jumped away, summoning a shield of dirt to block the blow.Kakashi’s fist glanced off it, the dirt grounding his lighting almost immediately, leaving his fist to strike unprotected into the hard earth.

The force was enough to bruise the bones of his hand and make his head throw backward, his teeth snapping down on themselves, his ears ringing at the force.The neck pain would subside, another ache on the endless list from his career as a knight.The sting of embarrassment, however, would last.It had been a mistake to strike first, with his lightning.Any great gambler knew not to play their best cards first, to give the game away before it even started. 

But he had been desperate to end this quickly.To get Gaara and to return to Sakura alone in the desert, facing-

No, he had to cut off that line of thought.She was almost a knight, and she would have to face such challenges on her own.His own survival demanded that he trust her, and focus on the task at hand. 

Currently, the task at hand was summoning a veritable mountain of rocks.Pebbles and boulders alike floated before Deidara, flecks of red that formed a barrier between the two opponents. They spelled death with every turn of their lazy orbit.

The gods would forgive him for what he did next.

Sorcery was meant to be trained or passed on as a carefully guarded inheritance within families.It was not meant to be stolen from the dead. 

There were limits to sorcery—even the strongest magician could only make do with the power that burned inside.And no one, Kakashi thought, should have the power to move mountains.

And yet Deidara laughed as he summoned the stones, pulling them from the foundation of the cliff face.More and more and more, until he threatened to shatter the very ground they stood on.The power did not seem to run out, and his enemy showed no signs of stopping.

Kakashi would make him stop.

He tore off his eyepatch, revealing his stolen inheritance. 

The Sharingan activated like muscle memory, latching on to the power that made the stones whirl in space.It slowed time down, allowed Kakashi to see the pattern of movement, and give him just enough of an opening to make it through the shield.

Kakashi could see Deidara react, as though moving through deep water as he realized what Kakashi had done.As he locked eyes with the knight, registering the infamous red eye of the Uchiha Family.He grinned as if excited by the challenge.Kakashi saw all of this, had time to register pity for the man, who would have no chance to recognize his own folly.

The steel of Kakashi’s blade slid neatly through the flesh of Deidara’s shoulder. _Hubris,_ Kakashi would think later as he analyzed the fight. 

For a normal opponent, a blade through the shoulder should be enough to end things.It generally had the effect of disarming the opponent (sometimes in more exciting ways than the obvious).And predictably, Deidara slumped to his knees, a roar of agony and rage on his lips. 

Still, he held control of his power. 

The rocks became a tornado, a swirling vortex of Deidara’s agony.The first rock struck Kakashi in the side, the next glanced off his shoulder.A more direct strike would have shattered bone.A third rock—no, a boulder—narrowly missed hitting him in the head.Only the Sharingan gave his body the signals it needed to keep moving, to stay alive.

The breath came faster in Kakashi’s lungs; not just from the demands of dodging a whirlpool of stone.It was as though his Sharingan itself reacted to the memory, playing it for him on a loop.A flicker of _another_ canyon. _Another_ cave-in.

_Another_ death.

A knight’s training was endless, carrying on long past the Proving, with morning drills and spars and jousts and endless, endless physical conditioning.That training did it’s work as Kakashi’s muscle memory took charge even has his psyche betrayed him.It took a scant second to get him out of the walls of the stone storm for Kakashi to come back to himself, quashing long-buried memories. 

“You _dare_ ,” Deidara spat, clamoring to his feet. He took a step towards Kakashi, raising a fist in the air to bring the rocks in closer.His Akatsuki tunic was ruined, hanging precariously off one shoulder and revealing a bloody wound where Kakashi’s weapon had done its work.But he made no move to stop the bleeding, although the pace of his breathing and twisting of his expression suggested agony.The stones stopped their rotating, hanging in the air just above Kakashi and Deidara. “You have the _audacity_ to maim me.” 

“Yes,” Kakashi said simply, thrusting again with his sword. 

This time the blade struck through, hitting Deidara through the chest. 

And then the sky fell.

* * *

Sakura’s opponent was beautiful.Like a tiger stalking its prey in the jungles of the Kingdom of Thunder, he had a gaze that could paralyze with terror and fascination.There was no other word to describe the young man, whose long lashes and red hair stood out like a bloodstain against the porcelain of his skin.He could have been distantly related to King Gaara, she thought, although no one had mentioned any missing cousins from the royal line. 

“If I break you open,” Sakura asked, “Will another, smaller man come out?”

It was not the kind of thing one asked an opponent, particularly not one as deadly as this man, but Sakura could not stop herself.She was _tired._ The days of riding, and now this…

Her question seemed to please her enemy.His smile was a twisted thing that did not reach his eyes, but Sakura took it as a sign of-

_of what?Favor?_

“It is a pity you are so dedicated to your little king,” he said.“You could do great things.” 

“It’s a little late for tempting me to your little group,” she said, pulling her spear out of the creature’s skull.“I generally only accept offers from people who haven’t tried to kill me first.”She hummed thoughtfully and rotated the sword in her hand with a slight flourish.“A name would be helpful as well.”

“I am Sasori,” he said, which answered very little.At the very least it gave her a classification, something to call this monster before her.

“Sakura,” she said, exchanging exactly the same amount he had given her.A name, no more, no less.No titles, no family names, no kingdoms of origin.What little could be inferred was all that stood to be gained?

_Sasori._ His name also wore the mark of the desert kingdom in its syllables. 

“With that out of the way,” Sasori said, flexing his fingers and rolling his shoulders.Something about the way he moved was more than human, too much rotation, and none of the tactile tension of skin.“Let us begin.”

The crook of his fingers churned the battlefield into chaos.Her first thought was that he was like Gaara, able to manipulate the sands.As the dust settled, she saw her mistake. 

He had warned her—this was an ancient place, where battles had been fought and nations won.Where warriors had lain down their lives in defense of a kingdom or in pursuit of another man’s claim to power, to be buried and forgotten in the sands. 

It had been Sasori who had manipulated the guardsmen of Konoha to turn on friend and brother all those weeks ago.And now he manipulated the remains of those forgotten fighters.Chattering skeletons, some still clinging to scraps of flesh, rose from the earth.They still held the weapons they had carried decades and even centuries before.The army of corpses approached Sakura, beckoning for her to join them in death. 

She was outnumbered by multiples, surrounded on all sides.This had been a bloody death field, and the numbers of the dead to manipulate seemed limitless. 

One thought thrummed through her veins.She was grateful, so grateful that she had bid Kakashi farewell properly.For she would die here, and the sand would strip her white bones clean while a smirking, beautiful boy watched.

If they wanted her to join them, they would have to drag her to the underworld by force.The first approached, a leader of men still wearing a crown.She wondered if his ancient campaign had been worth the price of his life.The corpse lifted his blade, ornate and rusted, above his head, dancing to Sasori’s tune.Hoisting the ancient spear, Sakura lashed out to meet him.

He crumbled into dust with one thrust of her spear through his skull. 

_Here was the trick,_ she realized with a wild grin, lashing out again and again with the spear, laughing as the bones disappeared, blown away by the desert wind to become so much sand.Where her spear was insufficient, she reached out with her magic.She could sense the shifting of Sasori’s work, the strings with which he made the skeletons fight.And with her sorcery, she could _cut._

Originally honed as a scalpel, meant for life-saving surgery, Sakura’s power manifested only inches from her hand.And yet inches could gain her so much, slicing through the strings of power Sasori had cast outward, ending his connection with the skeletons she could not reach with her spear. 

It could almost be a game if the only price for losing was not so grim.But she took the pleasure where she could, reveling in her sudden advantage. 

Sasori seemed to see it as well: he had miscalculated in his choice of puppet.They were nothing before Sakura.As he stood in the middle of the thinning mass of his soldiers, his placid smile slipped into a pensive frown. 

And then it was just the two of them: Sakura breathing heavily, spear still in hand and Sasori, unarmed. 

“I could continue this,” he mused.“I could wear you down indefinitely, as we both slipped further and further into the desert.They do not speak of how this nation is built on bones—how all of the great kingdoms of men, even your precious Konoha, rest on mass graves.I could pull so many corpses out of the sands that we would have no foundation to stand upon, and we would have no choice but to slip below the sands ourselves.” 

Sakura took the moment to catch her breath. _Let him talk himself into distraction_ , she decided, seizing the moment to rest. 

“You would suffocate yourself,” she provided helpfully.“And then what would you have achieved?” 

Sasori’s laugh was low and deep, but genuine. 

“Foolish,” he said.“To think that I still require something so mundane as _breath.”_

There was no time to unpack the statement.Sakura had caught her breath, and before Sasori could muster up skeletons to his own defense, she reached again with her spear.

It slid cleanly through Sasori’s body, in and out.Her opponent did not react, did not even flinch.And when Sakura removed her weapon (because she was nothing if not thorough) she was mortified to see that it was covered in no blood.There was none of the usual spray of viscera that any normal man ought to produce. 

“Do you see?”His laughter came louder and faster, his smile no longer calm but wide and honest, as though he had shared a joke and finally come to the punchline.“You will not kill me, Sakura.Perhaps it is time to reconsider your denial.” 

Sakura did not like the way he spread his arms wide, as if in an invitation to embrace.She loathed the way he said her name, as though in naming her he could claim some kind of power over her. 

“What _are_ you?”She whispered. 

“A ghost of Sunagakure.A promise of what is to come.I am the beginning of the end, immortality made manifest,” he said. 

This was a generally unhelpful comment.Sakura tried to use her power to sense the nature of him, a gentle probing but gained her nothing in return.It was as though her were made of wood, like the monster he originally appeared as. _Why the layers_ , she wondered then.If he was already immortal, why hide in a vehicle of gears, hideous and inhuman?

“The Akatsuki could give you so much more than your petty kingdom,” he said.“We can cross the petty barriers of men, overcome the laws of death itself.” 

She made motions as though she was considering the deal, to buy herself time as her magic probed and hunted for a weakness, but there was nothing.No hint of a pulse, no flaw.

It was as if Sasori was truly as he claimed: immortal. He had turned his flesh and blood into wood, a living puppet as human as the skeletons he had forced to dance to his tune.He was a beautiful facade hiding a deep perversion of the laws of life itself. 

But Tsunade had taught her well, had taught her how to use her magic to go deeper into veins, to sense for hints of disease hidden from scalpels and the naked eye.And then, finally, just as she felt her hope give way, she found it.The final glimmer of humanity, the animating spark at the core of him, where his magic resided. 

It felt wrong in some way, not wholly his own.Sakura’s magic came from her blood and her bones, her very will to live. With so little fuel to feed it, this puppet should have had but a fraction of her power.But despite the theatrics and manipulation, it had not burned out, it did even not show a single flicker of strain.

But it was there, a point of human weakness all the same.Sakura forgot herself, pulling her magic back into herself, and letting her guard drop.It could not have been much, the slightest shift in her posture, the faintest slump of her shoulders.

(Later, she would berate herself for the mistake.To replace something so intimate as the body, Sasori had to have been well acquainted with the firing of nerves, the quickening of the pulse.Her intent would have been as easy to read as a child’s tale.)

Whatever the signal, Sasori ended the negotiation.She saw the crook of his finger, and her stupid, mortal senses thought he was _beckoning_ her.As though he still might have a use for her.

But she had forgotten; he was a puppeteer, and puppeteers relied on string to do their work.

And she had forgotten the scorpion tail, amputated but still dripping with poison.

* * *

The stones landed with unnatural force, hitting Kakashi in about a dozen places.It was a promise of wicked bruises, a vision of the future where he returned home from this fight, alive and able to grumble about aches old and new.He held onto that thought has a rock hit him in the jaw, and another narrowly missed his left foot. 

The rocks landed around Deidara, who was slumped on his knees, bleeding out from the chest wound.Kakashi was too occupied to notice if the rocks were causing damage.It did not truly matter: Deidara was too far gone to survive with or without extra blunt force trauma. 

Instead, Kakashi raced out of the blast radius, determination feeding his speed.As Knight-Captain of the Konoha guard, Kakashi had one mission: to protect the kingdom.Gaara was part of that, his safety tantamount to maintaining peace between the two realms.But this was more complex a thought than Kakashi could muster at that moment.Instead, one instinct propelled him: get Gaara to safety. 

As though Deidara’s life-force sustained the very mountains, the sides of the cliff collapsed with him sending a shower of rocks into their battlefield.It happened in slow motion for Kakashi, the Sharingan’s drain keeping him alive in the midst of the cave-in.Kakashi could see the clay bird, still roosted at the top of the cliff, his passenger seemingly unconscious on its back. 

A rock fell from above, narrowly missing Kakashi’s head. 

There was very little a knight of Konoha did not prepare for.They learned to fight in snow and rain, in stunning heat and cold that could freeze bones.By the time he was sixteen Kakashi had learned to stitch up his own wounds, to cook a freshly caught wild hen, and to forage for medicinal roots to stave off infection.

He had never imagined that all of those lessons would be necessary for his survival one day.He had certainly never imagined it would come to this: a sixty-foot cliff face between Kakashi and his target.There was no time to find another way.He had no guarantee the clay monster that held Gaara hostage would stay in place long enough for him to get around the winding stone labyrinth of desert foothills.Worse, he was not confident he could ever find this place again if he did not reach the beast _now._

The Sharingan tugged at his reserves of power even as it identified the spots in the stone where he could most easily climb.While adrenaline still kept him vertical, he began the weary ascent.The falling stones made it dangerous, but they also revealed new footholds, opening up vulnerabilities and granting needed leverage with which to pull himself. 

Kakashi reached, and reached, and reached until suddenly his hand met nothing but air.He pulled, bringing himself to the top of the cliff where the clay bird still waited.It paid Kakashi no heed as he pulled Gaara down from it’s back.Instead, it’s eyes—painted on, Kakashi now realized— were fixed down below, where it’s master rested. 

He shook Gaara gently, checking for head injuries. 

Nothing.

It was as though he was drugged into unconsciousness, or spelled into incoherence.Pulling an eyelid up, the king’s eyes were dilated and bloodshot. 

“You have to wake up,” Kakashi hissed.He shuddered to think of what might have happened to the horse he had stolen.He only hoped it had been smart enough to run away before the stones began to fall.Without it, Kakashi would have no choice but to carry Gaara the entire way back to the castle. 

As if responding to the urgency of his voice, Gaara groaned.Kakashi’s breath caught in his throat in relief; the king would live. 

Then, just as the adrenaline began to die in Kakashi’s veins, a roar of agony and fury filled the canyon, echoing off the walls.It seemed that Deidara was not done with them yet. 

“You think you can stop me?”Deidara screamed.Kakashi dared a look over the edge, just in time to see Deidara climbing out of a mountain of stones, the added height already half way up to the top of the cliffside where Kakashi and Gaara waited.“You think your paltry sword and stolen tricks are enough to stop a true artist?” 

Kakashi fumbled at his waist, reaching for the throwing knife he kept there.He was not quite fast enough, the first blast detonating before he could get a hand around its hilt.The stones beneath them shook, and Kakashi tightened his one-arm grip around Gaara. 

Too fast for him to get away from the ledge, another explosion rocked them, this one close enough to make Kakashi’s ears ring and teeth chatter.Deidara was nearly at level with them, surrounded by stones.This had to be too much magic for one body, the final burst of power from a dying man.They were close enough now that Kakashi could see the frenzied look in Deidara’s eyes, the wide-eyed determination of a dying man. 

“You…will…not…escape…” Deidara panted, a collection of rattling gasps that screamed of labor and exhaustion. 

This time, it was enough of a chance for Kakashi to get his hand around the throwing knife.Deidara was nearly on them now, his arm raised to ready another blast.Kakashi’s Sharingan worked, pulling more from him as it guided his aim, but it was too much.The battle and the climb had taken too much from him, he would not be fast enough-

Until the air seemed to harden around Deidara’s hands and throat, suffocating the blast and the artist himself.No-not air.Sand.Kakashi spared a glance down to see Gaara barely conscious, his teeth bared in hatred and his focus on Deidara. 

Capitalizing on borrowed time, Kakashi flung the knife.

It hit its mark, through Deidara’s open mouth, still desperately trying to release a dying scream. 

This time, Deidara’s head flung back, his eyes losing all focus as he fell, dead.As his life-force left his body, so did the last scaffolding of power holding the cliff-face up.The clay bird collapsed into so much dust as the rocks beneath Gaara and Kakashi slid, down and down towards the rocky bottom of the ravine.Kakashi threw himself on Gaara, although he had no armor to protect the king with beyond his own flesh. 

The rocks fell around them, crumbling into dust and miraculously softening their fall.As they fell Kakashi realized that this was Gaara’s doing.The sorcerer-king, barely clinging to consciousness, was summoning the sands of his desert heritage to protect them.When they landed, Kakashi landed on his back, Gaara’s smaller form crushing down on his chest.But there was no crunch of broken bones, no telling agony.His ankle pulsed with pain, but Kakashi guessed it was a sprain at best.

Gently, Kakashi rolled Gaara off of him and checked for signs of injury.The king had lost consciousness, but not from any visible injures.Kakashi guessed it was using magic that had tired the sorcerer-king so, fighting against the effects of whatever spell Deidara had put him under. 

Kakashi breathed a heavy sigh of relief, the tense muscled of his neck relaxing, until he looked up and realized what had occurred.

The stones had fallen around and above them, in some places precariously balanced above them.It was as though Gaara’s protective bubble of sand had warded off the worst of it, forming a natural cave around them as the stones fell.There was a hole large enough to allow sunlight and air in, but otherwise, they were surrounded.

No, that was too gentle a word.

They were trapped.

* * *

Agony lanced up Sakura’s side as the scorpion tail drove into her side.She had pulled away in the last second, avoiding impalement and certain death.She fell to her knees, her hands dropping to the ground before her.Every breath was laborious as it burned through her chest,getting caught in her throat as she struggled to pull up the final dredges of her magic. 

The well of power that burned inside of her had gone dim, but it was just enough to course through her veins and catalog damage.The wound was more shallow than it seemed.There seemed to be no risk of organ damageBut that was not the true threat. 

The scorpion tail had been laced in that acidic poison.Desperately she swiped a hand at the wound, trying to brush away the blood.It was bad battlefield medicine, carrying too much risk of infection, but that did not matter.The edges of the wound had already begun to darken and char.She would not live long enough for an infection to take root. 

She dove deep into her power, racing against her own veins.She could feel the dark nature of the poison twining it’s fingers through her body like a lover’s embrace. 

“ _Poison is the art of cowards”, Tsunade said.Sakura was…fifteen.Maybe sixteen at most.It was one of many lessons, meant to instruct beyond knighthood and into the ways of the tilted world of sorcery.It had taken several years to earn Tsunade’s trust, and such lessons were meant to be savored. “Or at least, that is what they will say,” Tsunade continued.“In truth, poison is the art of the clever.The weak.And most importantly, the desperate.”The older woman ground up a long red root into a fine powder.Sakura knew by now that her mentor was using magic to enhance her strength and shorten the work._

_“What does poison have to do with sorcery?”Sakura asked, her head tilted in curiosity._

_“I should think that would be obvious,” Tsunade said, casting Sakura a disappointed look.Shame coursed through the squire, bringing heat to her cheeks.“For that is also who the world of sorcery belongs to.”She poured a generous heaping of powder into a water vessel and handed it to Sakura.“Poison is like sorcery: a forbidden art for those the powerful would forget.And like sorcery it courses through the body, exerting its will on the world.Poison, magic.Two sides of the same fatal coin.”_

_“Sorcery wouldn’t kill me,” Sakura said._

_Tsunade looked at her ruefully.“I would not have taken you on as my student if I did not think you would die without my aid.You would have seized the power within with your bare hands, letting it burn through you in an instant.Or worse, as clever as you are, you would have found texts better left buried and gathered the magic within you until it rotted your insides and turned you into a shade.”_

_Sakura cast a glance at the vessel of water in her hands.She could see nothing of the powder in the liquid, and there was no odor to suggest the hidden venom within.But Tsuande’s lessons were meant to be experienced, and she had no doubt about what would come next._

_“Now drink that,” Tsunade ordered, “and try not to die.”_

Sakura choked at the memory as she bathed in the pool of her power.It was barely a puddle now, drying up around her and leaving her to face Sasori and death alone. 

A pair of booted feet entered her vision, and Sakura spared the energy to look up into the heavily lashed gaze of Sasori.He smiled at her, pity in his gaze.“If I were merciful I would give you a third chance to deny me,” he said.“But I can see the hatred in your gaze.”

She bared her teeth at him.At this point, covered in blood and bone dust, she must have looked as monstrous as he, a creature of sand and fury.It was too great an effort to speak, all of her focus was spent on finding the poison in her body and molding it, forcing it to her will.Sasori leaned close, close enough that she should have been able to feel the heat of his breath along her lips. 

“It is a pity you did not join us.We would have appreciated you for what you are.But do not weep,” he continued, although she was nowhere close to doing such a thing.“It should be a comfort, to be so remembered by an immortal.” 

Mustering all of her power, Sakura lifted a palm towards Sasori.She was too weak, her hand barely brushing on his tunic. 

But all wicked men delight in a woman on her knees.Sasori was no different, relishing Sakura’s struggle.He brushed a hand along her jaw, a perverse mirror of Kakashi’s hand in his chambers in Konoha.It felt like a lifetime ago.

But he was close now, and this time, Sakura got her hand on his tunic, pressing her palm at the spot where she had sensed the core of his magic, the last trace of his humanity. 

She took the poison waiting in her flesh and _pushed._

Sasori’s mouth slackened, as though he had been punched in the stomach and desperately needed air.It did not matter that his body was mostly wooden, that he had cast aside his humanity.The poison was an acid, corrosive to whatever it touched.Black veins traced along his throat, and then his face, spurred along by Sakura’s sorcery as every last trace of it left her bloodstream.His eyes fluttered open, as though fighting for consciousness. 

Without a human body, the acidic poison did not just move through Sasori’s bloodstream.It passed through _all_ of him, burning his wooden puppet’s body like so much kindling.Without the steel protection that covered the scorpion tail, there was nothing to protect his form from the onslaught. 

Sasori tried to scream, but he was too far gone by that point, the sound was the shrieking rattle of metal on metal. 

And then he was gone.Vestiges of the monster that had been Sasori still remained, his half burned-out face still rolled in the sand.But there was no sign of life in the glass of his eyes. 

Sakura’s power was almost fully drained, enough to staunch the bleeding in her side and nothing more.She had tapped too far, too deep into her lifestream.She stumbled into the sand, cursing the sudden weakness.Her work was not done, she tried to scream at her useless limbs. 

She still had to return to Kakashi. 

Sakura forced herself to stand, shakily, putting one foot in front of the other.During the fight, she had barely noticed the shift of the sand beneath her feet but now it felt like quicksand, determined to pull her down and cloak her in unconsciousness. 

She mumbled past the wall of spears and into the desert, the journey seeming to take an eternity.Panicked, she realized she had no idea where to go, how to find him.It would be better to turn back and call for help.

But the castle was nowhere to be seen, having disappeared entirely from the horizon.The shifting winds of the desert had washed away their trail, making returning an impossibility.

Sakura stumbled again, then fell, resigning herself to death.She could only hope that ending Sasori had given Kakashi enough to time to save Gaara.

Was that enough in exchange for her life?

Sakura laid down, her face resting in the warm sand of the desert and wondered how it would feel to die.Would it be a quick slipping into unconsciousness that marked the end of her story?Or would it be slow, and painful, the insistent dryness of her throat tormenting her as she bled to death on the sands?

Or would it be irritating, a constant nudging on her skull like her hair was getting tugged and-

No, that was not a symptom of death.

Sakura forced her head to turn, to look up to see the horse she had stolen from Sunagakure, nudging at her scalp.It had not run in the battle, not far.Sakura had to roll to avoid the horse taking a bite out of her nose next. 

Somehow, the sight filled her with relief.It was like seeing an old friend and a reminder of what still waited for her. 

It took all of Sakura’s energy to force herself back up from the ground, even using the horse as support.Climbing onto its back felt like climbing a mountain, but somehow she got a leg over one side and all but collapsed onto its shoulders.She had slept in the saddle before, all knights had to learn the trick, but she doubted ‘sleep’ was the proper term for what her body craved.

“Find him,” she whispered, before slipping into the darkness of unconsciousness. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for reading!!! Please let me know if you enjoyed, I love your guys' feedback and comments!!!


	11. x. she had made the brave protest: i will not be vanquished

x.  she had made the brave protest: i will not be vanquished

When Sakura came back to consciousness, her first thought was to wonder why she was not in her bed in Konoha.The back of her neck burned where the sun blared had down on it, no doubt dying it a rosy pink with sunburn. 

Her second thought was that she was parched. 

The sun was dipping low in the sky marking an end to the longest day of her life.In the space of a single day she had arrived in Sunagakure, had faced her death, and now as the sunset, was without food, water, and with no companion but a horse.She had hoped the creature would take her back to the castle, to food and rest and healers

_No, she had hoped for more.She had hoped for something even more impossible, for a familiar face and an embrace that would do what healers could not._

Instead, she was alone.Sakura stumbled from the horse’s side, desperate for water.While she had rested, her body had refueled some of it’s magic, giving her more than a drop with which to soothe the pain and begin the long process of stitching the flesh in her side.But without water and food, it would mean nothing.Sasori’s would eventually claim her life, if only slightly delayed.

Sakura dismounted shakily.Her limbs were weak from the fight and the journey, and she narrowly avoided collapsing to her knees.They had reached a massive mountain range; on both sides, she could see a labyrinth of foothills spreading into the distance.To her great relief, there was grass peeking out from the rocks and growing in small, lush clumps at her feet.Where there was grass, there was water. 

She followed the plant life, chasing ever-larger patches of greenery until she found her prize- a lifesaving trickle of freshwater.She could see it stretch deeper into the mountains, where the tall peaks of stone caught clouds of rainwater that passed over the rest of the desert. 

Greedily she drank, luxuriating in the cool sensation.Tsunade had trained her how to purify water with a touch of her hands, a desperately useful trick on the road.She poured some of the clean water on her wound, hissing at the sensation.Her magic had not come back to fully heal the damage—that would take weeks of stored power and intricate work, and even then she expected a scar for her troubles. 

As Sakura drank, the sound of hooves on stone and a flicker of movement at the corner of her eye caught her attention.A horse, a dark brown chestnut, drank from the other side of the stream.Somewhere in the recesses of her memory, it was familiar.

Despite the water, her throat went dry.It was the horse Kakashi had stolen when they had ridden out to chase Gaara, still in its riding tack. 

Kakashi was still here somewhere, or…his body was.

A lifetime of training to quell panic was thrown to the wayside as she ran across the river.The horse naturally did not register the inner turmoil growing in Sakura, as she threw her arms around it, tears welling in her eyes. It whickered softly as if to say that she was distracting it from its grazing.

She had no idea how long she had been unconscious, and there was no telling how far the horse had come from Kakashi’s body.But logic did not deter her, not when she had so little to hang her hopes on. 

She stumbled deeper into the canyons and foothills.There was almost nothing to lose at this point: she was lost, grievously injured, and alone in a foreign land.War could be erupting at that very moment between Konoha and Sunagakure on political accusations that the Konoha knights had been behind the Akatsuki attack.Without Gaara and Kakashi, her victory over Sasori would mean nothing.

The sound of rocks falling in the distance jolted her out of dark thoughts of civil war and friends dead on a battlefield.Sakura had grown up near mountains; Konoha was built into a massive cliff face, giving the city extra layers of defense.The crash of boulders could only signal destruction and rockslides. 

More intently this time, she listened to the silence between the clash of stone on stone, trying to gauge what kind of destruction approached.Long spaces between the sounds of crashing suggested that the rockslide had already occurred. These were simply aftershocks, loose rocks falling occasionally.

The attackers in Sunagakure had been made of _clay._ It was a tenuous connection at best, and she should know better than to pin all hope to some extended chain of events that began with clay abominations attacking a desert city and ended in a mountain landslide that would lead her to Kakashi. 

Despite what she should know, Sakura stumbled towards the noise, deeper into the canyon. 

Some distant deity must have watched over her movements and granted her extra luck, for she did not have far to go to find the source of the noise.Sure enough, in the heart of the canyon, was the rubble of a landslide.The cliffside had completely collapsed, filling it with stones and blocking any further passage one horseback.She stared at the sight for a moment, fascinated by the sheer scope of the destruction.Judging by what still stood, the cliff had to have been a massive sight, dizzying to behold. 

And based on the way that small rocks still tumbled down the side, the destruction had been recent.Through the roar of her ears, Sakura remembered that the blonde Akatsuki member had been able to wield explosives.This kind of destruction would have been nothing to him. 

Desperate for something to cling to, she clambered over rocks, scanning the rubble and coming up with nothing.At the top of the first pile of stones, Sakura saw how far the destruction went, deep into a canyon.It was more than anyone could search alone, certainly too much for one half-dead squire.

This was something she had not accounted for in her mad journey into the mountains.That she would stumble upon what she sought and found this: a rocky cairn for Konoha’s knight-captain and the king of Sunagakure. 

Somewhere outside of herself, Sakura registered falling to her knees and crawling to the edge of the pile, her hands shaking as she tried to move the first rock.She could feel the bite of the stone in her palms, and the way her limbs trembled from the effort.The wound at her side began to tear, bleeding anew as she tried and failed to move mountains, but the pain was distant like a half-forgotten dream.

Worst of all was the cold way she realized her body had betrayed her once more; tears ran down her face and her mouth contorted into the ghost of a sob.

 _Stop this,_ she tried in vain to command her body. _A proper knight would not behave this way._

There was no knowing how long she continued this way, but she made no dent in the destruction. 

The sobs grew in her chest, and for yet another uncountable moment, Sakura thought that it had been for nothing. The sun was going down now, promising darkness and cold.It would soon be impossible to search in the dim light, and she had nothing with which to start a fire. 

Her fight with Sasori, their mad dash through the desert, even that first departure from Konoha were only stones in a landslide of death. It had all been for nothing.

“ ** _HELLO?_** ”

The sound sliced through her sobs, bouncing along the rocks of the ruined canyon walls, and shocking Sakura out of her despair.It bounced off the canyon walls, distorting in volume in pitch. 

“Is someone there?”She called back, trying to quell the quake in her voice, to squash the bubble of desperate hope rising within.

“Sakura?” 

Her heart seized at the sound of her name as it echoed off the canyon walls.This time she could hear a direction in the sound, deeper in the landslide.Barely able to contain herself, she slid down the side of the first pile of rubble, and then was climbing onto the next one, rocks scattering at her feet, her palms leaving bloodstains on the golden-red rocks. 

“Kakashi?” She called, reaching the top of the second peak of rubble.

This time there was a break in the stones, massive sheets of granite forming an unnatural wall, cracks filled with caked-in sand.Her ascent was not graceful, but at the top, she was greeted with a reward sweeter than anything she could have imagined.A massive hole in the stones allowed the dying sunlight to filter down, illuminating Kakashi and an unconscious Gaara at the bottom of a massive cave.The golden sunset gave Kakashi’s pale skin and white hair a warm cast, and Sakura desperately wanted to reach down to touch him.

“Can you get out of there?”Sakura asked, her voice echoing off the sides of the artificial cave.For a moment, Sakura thought Kakashi looked sheepish.“I sprained my ankle,” he said, by way of explanation.“And Gaara’s unconscious.I’d have to carry him out.”

It went without saying that one did not leave an unconscious king in the middle of a cave-in.Sakura leaned forward, trying to figure out a passage for Kakashi and Gaara to escape with minimal damage.If she leaned, _just so_ , far enough that her body would not lose its balance, she could get a better view of the landscape.

But in her mental calculus, Sakura had forgotten to include blood loss and exhaustion.The slightest shifting of balance, the sudden tilt of gravity, and one patch of gravel that sent her hand sliding and seeking purchase and she was falling, falling, _falling-_

She landed in Kakashi’s arms.Or rather, he had caught her, standing up just in time, extending his arms to soften her blow and hold her the way a groom carries his bride over the threshold of their new life together. 

“Your ankle!” She cried, leaping from his grasp before she had time to miss his warmth.“You shouldn’t put weight on it!”

Kakashi slumped backward, following orders.A rueful look flashed across his one visible eye.“I did just save you from breaking your spine,” he said, a hint of petulance in his tone. 

Sakura flushed, then bit her lip.“Thank you,” she said.“But now we’re both stuck here.” 

Kakashi scanned her up and down, his eyebrows knitting in anguish. 

“You’re half dead,” he said, gesturing to her side.“And you’re worried about _us?_ You shouldn’t even be walking around with that kind of injury.”As if to support his point, the wound had begun to bleed profusely once again, calling on another wave of magic to staunch the flow. 

“It’s under control,” she protested.Her eyes still burned with drying tears, and the sight of him was still so fresh, that suddenly words were awkward on her tongue.What did one say to a man that one had kissed, and then mourned, all in the same afternoon?When in doubt, Tsunade had once told her, behave like an expert.Clinging to the single shred of expertise she had in this situation, Sakura ordered, “let me see your ankle.”

“Absolutely not,” Kakashi flatly refused.“Save your magic for the bleeding side wound.”

“Fine,” she sniffed, breezing past him to Gaara’s side.“If you won’t let me heal your ankle, I will turn my attention to someone who will not protest.” 

This was not how this reunion had been meant to play out.It was as though she had not fully regained control of her person after her breakdown amongst the rocks, and now she could only stumble out medical orders and stammer at the face of the man who had literally caught her from out of the sky.Thankfully, the task of scanning Gaara for injury was absorbing enough to tear her thoughts away from Kakashi and his arms. 

Despite their warmth.

Gaara did not seem to be injured, but the weight of some foreign enchantment hung over him, keeping him unconscious.She pushed at it, breaking through some of it’s force, but she could sense that most of it had faded away, as though the sorcerer could no longer maintain the energy of the magic.

“Your opponent,” she began to ask.“He’s-?”

“Dead,” Kakashi answered.“Likely buried somewhere in the rubble, if we are being exact.Yours?”

“Also dead,” she replied.“But I’m not sure he was ever truly alive.He was..some kind of puppet.” 

Sensing that she could do no more work on Gaara, Sakura turned to Kakashi and described the contours of her battle with Sasori.She explained how he had been made from wood, a puppet within a puppet, guided by some animating force.Kakashi did not interrupt, except to shift his weight from side to side.Sakura could not help but notice the gathering of tension in his shoulders and the way his eyebrows knitted together as she spoke. 

When it was his turn, Kakashi laid out his own battle with Deidara, the architect of the explosions that had wracked Sunagakure.“I think there is more to the Akatsuki’s motives than banditry,” he said finally.“They are too powerful, more powerful-“

“Than they have any right to be,” Sakura finished.“I felt it too.Sasori was made of _wood._ The effort to animate that alone should have been more than any single sorcerer could accomplish.But he summoned an entire _host_ of skeletons to kill me.”

“When we figure out how to get out of this place, we have to warn Tsunade,” Kakashi said.“She needs to prepare Konoha for an attack by more sorcery.No one collects that kind of power and settles for raids on unguarded villages—and if they are after Gaara, they will soon be after Naruto.”

Even as he laid out his plan, it struck her as too little too late.How could anyone in the city prepare for an attack by a group of sorcerers, when the best hope for their defense was illegal?When they returned, she had to convince Tsunade and Naruto to change the laws, Danzo and the rest of the old guard be damned. 

Sakura knew her history; the laws governing the use of sorcery were still fresh.The people would not resist the change, not when many still remembered the days when such power could be harnessed throughout the realm.If only King Minato hadn’t been eaten from the inside out, trying to stop an onslaught of power that had come from within the castle’s walls.

The beam of sunlight that illuminated the cave was fading into purple nothingness, hiding Kakashi’s expression as he contemplated the implications of further Aktasuki attacks.Then, shocking her out of her thoughts, Kakashi brushed a hand down her shoulder.

“I owe you an apology,” he said, his voice a murmur.There was no one else to hear them with Gaara, their only possible audience, unconscious.Still Kakashi kept his voice low.This was a statement just for her.“I should never have left you to face that monster alone.”

“We had a duty,” she replied, a lightning bolt of shock and something else coursing through her.“If you hadn’t pursued Gaara-“

“Gaara is not my duty,” he said, leaning close.She was struck by how warm his breath felt against the curve of her ear, then realized he had removed the mask that usually stood between them.“You are.”

Warmth flushed through her, and she remembered the kiss before her battle with Sasori.The kiss _she_ had initiated.Where was that boldness now, she wondered.She had taken lovers before, even had a months-long tryst with Rock Lee, Sir Guy’s own squire. With Kakashi this close and maskless, her course of action should have been obvious.Still, something held her back from claiming a second kiss.It was a threshold in which the first had not been.Facing a bloody death alone, all manner of indiscreet kisses were permissible, she supposed.Not so for the follow-up, stolen in the dark of night. 

Such a kiss was a promise of something greater.

“I’m not your squire,” she said, unsure if she was dismissing his sense of duty or trying to justify her own actions.

“No,” Kakashi said, “you aren’t.But- I should never have left you undefended.” 

Sakura didn’t know what to do with this statement--she was meant to be a knight.Knights didn’t need defending, their calling was to ride into danger. 

But somewhere a traitorous part of her whispered that she _craved_ this.Craved the thought of Kakashi standing between her and the rest of the world, ready to rise to her defense.It had been only that morning when Kakashi had promised to protect her if her sorcery-related crimes ever came to light.Now his promise extended further, against any possible danger.It was dizzying to consider, although impossible to accept.

“I don’t need you to be my protector,” she replied, the words easing out of her carefully.It hurt to deny herself this.

“No, that…that’s not what I mean,” Kakashi said.Her heart fluttered at the catch in his voice. The thought of Kakashi, immortal, powerful, distant, choosing his words so carefully—the vulnerability was intoxicating.“I care about you,” he said. 

_More than he cares for his duty?_ The thought was traitorous and bold. _Words are easy, but in the end, he chose the king.He’ll always choose his king._

Sakura’s survival demanded cunning, and she could not silence this fact. 

“We do what we must,” she said simply, biting her lip and looking away.“I would not have had you make a different choice.If you had let that monster get away with Gaara, a war could have broken out between Sunagakure and Konoha.The price was too high.I know it, and so do you.”

Kakashi fell silent, and disappointment entwined with satisfaction within her.

She had called him out on his lie.He would do his duty, always.Promises, pretty though they might be, were as solid as the sand of the Sunagakure deserts. 

But the real source of her pain, the white-hot blade slipping through her ribs, was that she wanted him to protest.She wanted him to protect her.

“It is this life that’s wrong,” Kakashi said finally.Sakura stilled her breathing.It was as though he could read her thoughts.“What right does Konoha have to claim so much from us?That a king can order us to die at his whim.That we lay down ourselves in defense of the realm, and for what?To be punished for our very natures?”Then, delicately, Kakashi lifted her fingers and brought them to his lips, planting a kiss that burned like embers on each of Sakura’s half-moon nails.

It must have been the pain and blood loss that muddled her thoughts.Kakashi could not be suggesting what she thought he was.There was no-one more dedicated to the realm than he.Had he not proved it time and again, rising to its defense despite its contradictions and corruptions?Had he not proved it when he left her to face Sasori alone while chasing after its allies?

“While fighting Deidara do you know what I couldn’t stop thinking of?It was not Konoha, or the castle, grand though it may be.And it was not Gaara, who I was meant to rescue.It was _you._ In the desert, facing that monster alone.I had to stop myself from turning back for you a thousand times, but I knew you would never accept that.But then..when you fell down here, and I saw how injured you were…I couldn’t stand it.It was _wrong._ ”

“We had a duty-“ she protested, the words weak.

“What is duty to a kingdom that would cast us aside without a moment’s hesitation?That would condemn us to death for the crime of honesty?” 

After their tentative conversation that morning (had it only been that morning?), she thought they would never speak of her sorcery again.Silence was the only thing that kept the city running: silence on the topic of Kakashi’s ability to wield lightning like a blade, silence on the power behind Naruto’s sword, silence about all of it.Anything else went against every rule of their society.

 _Rules_ you _could change,_ that dark and traitorous voice reminded her.Again, that dark need to seize power, to shape the world to her whims. 

“What of _Naruto?_ ” She demanded, as much for her own benefit as for Kakashi’s.“He needs loyalty.He needs _us.”_

“Naruto isn’t here,” Kakashi groused mutinously.And then he kissed her, swallowing all future objections. His touch was light, almost playful as he nipped at her bottom lip, but his grip on her was anything but joking.He stroked her throat gently, running a thumb down her shoulders and then past her collarbone, then down the side of her uninjured rib.Her flesh shivered at the touch, and suddenly so warm that Sakura feared she had caught a fever from infection.Sakura pulled away from the mouth, panting. 

Kakashi seemed to sense her hesitation, and stopped his movement, removing his hand from its spot nestled at her hip.“If I’ve misinterpreted…” he started, his voice saturated with horror.“We can stop and never speak of this again.”

It took Sakura a moment to register his meaning.Then, helplessly she crumbled into laughter.It was touching, to think of him so concerned about her feelings. 

“I kissed you first,” she cut him off before he could stammer any further, her voice bright with humor.Then, growing somber, she continued.“When I thought you were dead, I couldn’t stand it.The thought of a world without you-“She bit her words off and began again.This situation, this _relationship,_ was still too fragile to load with too many words.Any attempts at explanation would have to wait for later, when she had sorted out her _own_ feelings and could form coherent sentences.

“We could die here,” she began again with a medic’s frankness. 

That, finally, seemed to be enough permission for Kakashi.He crushed her against him with another kiss, his hand resuming tracing circles along her side.Her head swam at the feel of his teeth scraping at her skin, dotting kisses down her throat.As if starving, she tore at the fabric of his shirt.There were too many layers between them and she could not bear the dirty and bloodied cotton to stand between them.

His fingers brushed her inner thigh, and she gasped at the touch.She hungered for more of him, dragging her hands down his torso, luxuriating in the firmness of muscles toned by years in the training yard.Kakashi was delicately pulling at her own shirt, and Sakura moved to lift her arms above her head and then-

-burning agony.The wound at her side had reopened, and Sakura had to bite back a yelp at the sudden sensation.

Kakashi, far more attentive than she had ever expected, immediately noticed her discomfort and leaned forward to inspect the wound.Her body protested the sudden absence of his hands on her thighs, and she reached out to clasp her arm around his neck, holding on to him as if he was the only thing keeping her vertical. (Which, admittedly, he might have been.)

“Don’t you dare stop,” she whispered. 

He laughed, kissing her once below each eye before tenderly sliding a hand below the neckline of her shirt to caress her.His fingers traced the firm mound of her breast, leaving trails of embers in their wake and Sakura let out a shuddering gasp at the sensation.It was fully nighttime now, and Sakura could only barely make out Kakashi’s self-satisfied grin at the sound. 

“Is anyone down there?”The voice echoed off the canyon walls, making Sakura’s heart rise, pounding in her throat.The firelight of torches illuminated the cave, casting warm light on the narrowed-gaze of Temari.Like a reflex, Sakura was furious at the interruption, only to remember that this was a rescue. And like that, frustration melted into elation at the realization. 

They would survive.

Temari was close enough that Sakura could see her wicked grin at the sight of them, entwined and half undressed.“Sorry we didn’t send advance notice,” she hollered down.“Should we come back later?”

Her cheeks burning, Sakura extracted herself from Kakashi’s protective grasp.“We’re stuck down here,” she shouted back up, letting her voice carry and bounce off the sides of the rock. 

Temari’s answer was to gesture for someone out of Sakura’s range of vision.Again Sunagakure showed off the advantages of welcoming sorcery, as one of the members of their rescue party moved the rocks that had them trapped.They would not even need to climb out of the cave: a passage had been created revealing a six-man rescue party with fresh mounts for all three of them. 

“I trust we did not keep you waiting,” Temari said with a bow in their direction.At first, Sakura was touched by the sudden courtesy. Then Gaara stepped into her field of vision.

Suspiciously conscious, Gaara was on his feet and dusting red dirt off his trousers.“I wondered if my message would reach you,” he replied, uncharacteristic warmth in his voice.“I had never tried that trick over such a long distance.” 

“Old Chiyo could sense it, so don’t give yourself too much credit,” Temari retorted, paying no heed to Sakura or Kakashi (who was still trying desperately to clasp his shirt buttons in as unflustered a manner as possible.)

Gaara did not quite meet Sakura’s gaze as she stared at him in mystified silence.As if sensing her question, he explained. 

“I manipulated the sands to create a messenger to the castle as soon as we were trapped in the cave-in.The Akatsuki’s magic on me meant I couldn’t use my powers without great cost.” 

Sakura took a deep breath, reminding herself of every lesson in courtesy Tsunade had ever given her—although they had not prepared her for this specific situation.It would not be good manners to demand a foreign monarch explain how long he had been conscious and just _what_ he might have heard in the dark.Although after saving his life, Sakura supposed she had earned her a little candor.

Before she could embarrass them both, Kakashi silenced her with a hand on her shoulder.He gently massaged the tense muscle of her deltoid.“We appreciate the rescue,” he said to Temari, every inch the courtier.“I hope you’ve brought a healer. Sakura was injured in the rescue.” 

Fortuitously, Temari had come prepared.Before Kakashi could even finish the statement, a middle-aged woman with a shock of red hair stepped forward, taking Sakura into her custody.With a healer there to immediately burn away infection and smooth over the wounds, Sakura would survive the journey home. 

What she might not survive, however, was the humiliation that burned in her as Gaara finally made eye contact.Then, to Temari he said. “It’s a good thing you came when you did, sister.I suspect there may have been _rats_ in that cave. I could hear quite a bit of rustling.”


	12. xi. the trick which is played on youth

xi. the trick which is played on youth

Convalescing in the Sugakure hospital should have been a relaxing experience. It should have been a time for rejuvenation and relaxation, an opportunity for Sakura to get some much-needed rest after the nights sleeping in tents and the battle with Sasori. 

And for a single night, it was.However the wound at her side dictated that she not travel for at least a week, and worse, avoid strenuous activity for at least two more after that.It took every ounce of Sakura’s training as a healer not to whine at the operating surgeon.Knighthood was nothing but strenuous activity. She couldn’t afford to languish here in bed, letting her skills rust and putting her life in danger the next time she was under attack.

In the end, several very good points prevailed.First, Kurenai came to visit her bearing flowers and congratulated her on her victory, informing her that she had earned the rest.

Second, the head healer was brought in to remind her that too many magical healing could make the body resistant to future work.

Then, Kakashi arrived, and delicately reminded her that in the aftermath of the Akatsuki attacks, every hand was needed to stabilize the many guardsmen, townspeople, and miscellaneous nobles that were suffering from potentially fatal injures. 

That third point, in particular, quieted her.The healer in her could not stand the risk of others dying for her own comfort, and the blushing girl in her could not stand to seem petulant in front of Kakashi.

This also contributed to her discomfort.Kakashi’s drifted in and out of her room, dropping off choice delicacies from street stalls in the city and leaving behind anxiety and confusion in his wake.She had been granted a private room, one of the few perks of nearly dying for this city, and that should have been perfectly amenable to more open conversation. 

She tried, once, to get him to stay by her bedside longer and discuss something more complex than the weather and interesting food.Trustingly, Kakashi had sat down for a moment, sliding Sakura a plate of chicken on a stick he had purchased from an old woman who had (allegedly) told him his future. 

“And what does the future hold, Sir Hatake,” Sakura teased, taking a bite from the admittedly delicious chicken.It had been charred and drizzled in a rich sauce that tasted mildly of peanuts.As the first rich notes of the sauce faded on her tongue, she could feel the bite of spicy red pepper. 

“Naturally, it was wrong,” he said, leaning back in his chair and getting comfortable.Sakura had to fight from smirking and giving away her plot.It was day three of her healing period, and although Kakashi had been dutiful in his visits, she had not failed to notice how short they were and how eager he was to avoid a long conversation.“She seems to think I am going to retire from combat, and live to be old on land I farm myself, surrounded by grandchildren.”

“Is that so absurd,” she teased.Despite herself, interest burned within her at that final detail.Strangely, she found herself protective of what Kakashi’s future might entail and who, exactly, would be involved. 

“Yes,” he replied flatly.“I despise agriculture.”

Sakura’s laugh was quick enough to surprise even her, bright and cheery and gone just as fast; stopped by the need to protect her wound from yet another reopening. 

“So what are your plans for the future,” she asked, easing gently into more dangerous territory.The thought of old seeresses selling chicken had been enough to unbalance him and draw him into her lair, but she had to be careful not to spook him. 

“Oh, the usual: die in battle, gloriously and in such a way that people sing ballads about me forever.”He was voice sounded like he was joking, it was light and breezy and he even delivered an exaggerated dismissive gesture to punctuate the whole performance.But something in his shoulders, and the anxious way he tapped his foot on the hard sand of the floors, made her suspicious. 

“Of course,” she said, chill creeping into her words.“Who doesn’t look forward to death?”She wanted him to take off his damned mask and face her.He had been so honest in the cave, and heartbreakingly gentle with her injured body.But now, as she slowly healed and the harsh desert sun streamed in through her windows, Kakashi couldn’t seem to face her.

 _Do you know what kind of rumors are probably already spreading, you coward?_ She wanted to scream.She would hope that Temari wouldn’t divulge the explicit details of their rescue, but she couldn’t count on it.She didn’t know the lady knight well enough. _The least you could do is be_ honest _with me._

But perhaps, Kakashi was not the only coward, because she did not scream at him.She did not make demands, or cajole him into telling her what he was feeling, or even bring up the incident in the cave, and maybe it was fear that bought her silence.Fear that she would push him away, fear of what her demands might earn her.That he might dismiss her, laughing at her childish attraction.That he had merely tolerated her, and taken advantage of her nearness in their last moments of life.It was highly possible that he saw her as nothing more than a pushy child, one he was willing to take advantage of her in the last moments of his life before they both died in a cave.

Or, far more terrifying: he might not push her away at all.

And so she let Kakashi leave believing he had delivered the ultimate joke with a side of chicken.And she did not try to draw him into conversation again, although she hungered in a way that food could not satisfy.

This passed for several days, and each time the sun dipped below the horizon, Sakura could feel her body growing stronger and need growing within.Need to return to the road, the return to Konoha, need to get her hands around the hilt of a blade.

On the final day of her healing period, Sakura got a surprise visitor.An old woman almost bent in half with age, materialized in Sakura’s room in the middle of the boring hour between Kakashi’s breakfast and lunch visits. _Chiyo_ , the name occurred to her.The old woman who had received Gaara’s message and who had insulted Kakashi in that first meeting before everything had gone to hell. 

She did not look like she belonged in the hospital ward, and she certainly had not come to change Sakura’s bandages.Instead, she took the seat next to Sakura’s bed and shook her head. 

“You’ll feel that wound until the day you die,” she said, clucking her tongue in disapproval.“It’ll hurt in the rain, when you’re old and regretting that you wasted your youth on horseback, hitting things with sticks.If you’re lucky that is.”

After her failed attempt at conversation with Kakashi, she had not exchanged more than a few words with anyone.She had little enough patience to discuss her injury with the Sunagakure healers.There was certainly none to be spared for an old woman who had come to criticize.Irritated and sharp, Sakura said, “I do more than hit things with sticks.” It would be crass to remind the woman that she had helped save the king, but Sakura was tempted if only so she could go back to the tiring work of napping all day. 

“Of course,” Chiyo said, suddenly growing sly.“If I’m not mistaken, you’re from one of those backwater states where good common sense is illegal.” 

Sakura did not protest that description of Konoha, it would take too much effort to compose a pretty enough sounding lie.“Are you putting together a case against me,” she said instead, her voice flat and even. 

“I’ve come to warn you, girl.”Chiyo’s words were barbed, to silence any further interruptions.“I heard of your battle with Sasori of the Red Sand.”Sakura had not heard of that particular epithet, but she supposed it fit.He had certainly dyed the sands red with enough of her blood. But at the mention of the battle, anxiety prickled down her spine.“I don’t know what you want to warn me of,” she said, shrugging in performed indifference, “it was fairly standard fare.Two swordsmen enter, only one leaves.Well, swordswoman, in this case.”

“Do not lie to me,” Chiyo snapped, her grandmotherly ruse fully disintegrating.“I knew that boy, and I know what he was capable of.If you brought him down, which against all laws of nature it seems you _did,_ you didn’t do it with something so ordinary as a sword.” 

Although the accusation was plain, Sakura’s ears prickled at the sudden detail into her enemy’s life.“You knew him?”Sakura stammered, climbing a mountain of pillows and blankets to sit up, alert.

“I knew him as a boy.He could have been king here,” Chiyo spat.“Had he not craved something more.”Sakura did not have to ask what _more_ meant.He was older than Gaara, and had come of age in a Sunagkure with laws similar to Konoha. 

“He said he was immortal,” she said quietly. 

“Immortality, power, sorcery,” Chiyo snorted.“It’s all the same thing when you really get down to it.You don’t have to turn yourself into wood to become a monster.” 

“Is that what you call your king?” Sakura bristled.She saw now, that this wasn’t a useful conversation.Chiyo was a bitter old woman, filled with suspicion of sorcery and furious that the world had turned without her say-so. 

Chiyo let out a dusty chuckle before releasing her next barbed retort.“Gaara is a good boy, despite his best efforts.I’m not worried about Sunagakure with his hands on the reins.I may even consider dying in a few years if he’s doing a good enough job. Now, listen closely I’m doing you a favor.”

She put a hand on Sakura’s knee and patted it, a gesture of condescension and kindness entwined.“You’re one of Tsunade’s students, I can tell.She blew through here, decades ago, leaving chaos in her wake.Some thought she was a problem, maybe even a Konoha spy.The old king even discussed assassinating her while she drank and gambled her savings away.”

That sounded just like Tsunade’s reputation. 

“But I knew better,” Chiyo continued.“I knew hunger, even in those days.It makes people dangerous, can turn a man against his whole family just to claim a scrap of power. Tsunade had none of it.The only thing she craved was a full belly and good company.You can see it in the eyes when someone will throw their lives away for lust of power.I had seen it in my grandson before he killed his parents and fled to join the Akatsuki.”

Sakura reeled at the revelation.She could picture it: Sasori’s face no different from their confrontation but clothed in the livery of Sunagakure.Training in their practice yards, riding through the hot sands of the desert.To put Sasori in the context of family, to think that he had once had parents, a family, an ordinary body. The thought that he was not simply some phantasmagory of threat and wood, was intoxicating.Once he had been flesh and blood and somehow had climbed to the heights of such power.It had been costly, she was sure, but the fact that such power could even be on offer...

“I see that hunger in you, girl,” Chiyo said, her face suddenly too close—close enough that Sakura could smell the ghost of peppers and whiskey on her breath. “I owe you a blood debt for saving Gaara.Don’t make me regret letting you out of this hospital alive.”


	13. xii. the drink was yours, and you could give it up.  but-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact: this and the last chapter were supposed to be part of the same chapter (with a whole bunch more after this as well) but it started getting to unmanageable and the POV switch within the chapter was unbearable to me. But it does mean I got two chapters out extremely quickly!! Don't let it fool you though, I am NOT a very fast writer...
> 
> But I digress. Hope you enjoy!!

xii. the drink was yours, and you could give it up.but-

They rode out the day after Sakura got out of the hospital.The sun shone high and the journey was demanding, but without the breakneck pace that haunted their arrival.But Kakashi was glad when the desert city finally faded behind them into the horizon.Kakashi was a man made for the cool shadows of a forest, and in the desert, he simply felt too exposed.He had been away from Konoha for too long. 

Much like the endless heat of the sun inflicting burns on the back of his neck; worry had come to fester within Kakashi.He had not troubled his companions with it; it was too likely that Kakashi’s instincts were merely overreacting.It was better to allow the rest of the guard to relax on the ride home, having enjoyed their foreign adventure and with the exception of Izumo, avoided mortal peril. 

He did not share his concerns that the attack on Izumo was unrelated to the Akatsuki.Instead, he doubled his men on their watch and reminded them that bandits roamed these woods.That first attack had done enough to rile everyone’s nerves up and a jumpy guard could be worse than complacent one.

Compounding on his woes was the silence from Konoha.Shortly after their departure all messages from Tsunade and the castle had stopped.Although Tsunade was not an overbearing commander, she usually expected regular reports and replied in kind.Over the last four years, they had developed an easy rapport, and he had assumed that she would do him the courtesy of keeping him abreast of the goings-on at home.For the first few days, she had done just that.Then, shortly before the attack on their camp, she had fallen silent.Now, this close to the date of their return, it was more than a lapse in communication, it was a lapse in duty.He should know what kind of a situation he was walking into, as Knight-Commander of the castle guard and as a knight close to the regent. 

In the quiet days of Sakura’s healing, his concern had grown fully into dread.It had been too volatile in Konoha when they left, with too many players in place.Naruto and Sasuke’s arrival had created an undercurrent of tension, just waiting to wreck the quiet machine of governance that kept Konoha stable and running.

The possibility that their messages were being intercepted had crossed his mind, and accordingly, he had been careful with what details of the Akatsuki attack he had put to paper. He could not risk revealing to some eavesdropper what Sakura was capable of.He had known she studied sorcery, had seen her power at work in her healing.But to singlehandedly take down a member of the Akatsuki….

If he felt guilty that he was not preparing the guards under his command for the situation at home, it was nothing compared to the well of regret that bubbled up within at the sight of Sakura.If she knew that Tsunade had stopped all communication the worry would make her sick.It was too great a burden to bear, for all that she insisted that she was fully healed, Kakashi knew she needed more rest.

But he would tell her, he silently swore.If she asked.

It was impossible to separate the blame he felt at his silence from the tangled mess that his emotions had become every time he caught sight of the pink-haired squire.That he had put her in danger, that he had allowed her to be injured, that he had so much as touched her, let alone _kissed_ -

No, those thoughts he had to banish.That part of their relationship had to stop, immediately.Sakura had been under his command when she was a page, and the distance of years from that time to now was not enough to justify this new shape to their relationship.He could care for her, certainly, but the transgressions he had been ready to make in the cave were unforgivable. 

The irony was not lost on him that they had left Konoha in just such a state, with the exact same in Kakashi’s heart.But they had been in danger in Sungakure, and mortal peril had a way of weakening resolve.This time, he swore to himself he would not be a burden to her.

And he had every intention of making good on that promise but-

-but the way Sakura bit her lip as she struggled with knots while pitching her tent.

\- but the shout of victory she let out every time she won an arm wrestling match with one of the guardsmen over the evening campfire.

-but the way the filtered light of the forest reflected off her pink hair as they rode. 

It haunted him as they rode through the sands and into the familiar forests of home.Around him, everyone relaxed as they crossed the threshold, oblivious to the tension that threatened to snap within Kakashi.Even Sakura was not immune to the change.He had been avoiding her for days, and she knew it.But there was no trace of irritation or distance when she beamed up at him and said “I can’t wait to rinse off all this sand.” 

He couldn’t deny her that. Sakura had finally been adopted by the rest of the guards, and she of all of them had earned a night of relaxation.That the wound at Sakura side had already formed into a wicked scar increased her status even further.(So far, Kakashi noted, that no one bothered to question how quickly it had healed.). Near-death experiences had a way of increasing a person’s popularity amongst the guard. Kakashi’s own tendency for them was part of what made him a well-liked commander.

So to celebrate, he declared, they would camp early, and on the shores of the Naka River.It would give their party time to fish, or hunt, or even just drink tiny bottles of the burning liquor brewed in Sunagakure’s basements.

“Maybe we can set snares for rabbits tonight,” Sakura said, looking up at him through full lashes as they pitched tents.“Kurenai tells me you are the best trapper here.”

As she spoke, the rope in her hands seemed to come alive to resist her.Somehow, despite all the thousand other skills she had excelled at over the years, Sakura had never quite mastered the art of setting up camp.In the struggle the hem of her shirt untucked itself from her riding pants, revealing a strip of her well-muscled stomach and the newly mended pink flesh that was stretched taut along her side.

At the sight, a piece of flint had entered Kakashi’s heart, thinking of what it would take from her someday.Just as it would take from Naruto and Sasuke and just as it had already taken from Kakakashi. 

Kakashi grunted a noncommittal reply.He forced himself to turn away from the flash of disappointment in Sakura’s gaze.Sudden memories of another girl ready to make her mark on the world, another squire desperate for glory, struck him too strongly.As soon as his work was done, he fled into the treeline and to the edge of the Naka River. It was a massive tributary that flowed through Konogakure all the way to the distant sea.They could ride by its side the whole way home, following it’s winding course for days, relying on it for water and baths. 

Here, the river flowed slow and deep, perfect for swimming.Even here in the woods, Kakashi had been unable to shake the desert’s gripping heat. The water was too cool and inviting to ignore. With a furtive glance, Kakashi stripped and slipped into the Naka’s frigid embrace.Although the sun still rode high in the sky, the water was cold enough to steal the air from his lungs. 

_Let Sakura have her companionship and her battle scars_ , he told himself.Let her enjoy them before war and time took too much from her.It would be cruel to strip her of it now. 

It was not Sakura’s fault that he had once failed her as a mentor.He should have been a better leader for their entire team of four.He should have been able to prepare Naruto for the weight of duty on his shoulders.He should have been more able to predict Sasuke’s treason. And most of all, he should never have allowed himself to focus on Naruto and Sasuke.Not when it was Sakura who held the most potential as a knight.Ordinary Sakura, who had seized power for herself, who had shaped her destiny with her own two hands.Who understood duty and honor better than either of the boys on her team all those years ago. 

It was a failure he kept circling back to.There were excuses he could make, he supposed.For one, he had been younger than any other mentor assigned to the pages.At 23, he had not yet been appointed Knight-Captain of the guard and had only just finished his first tour of duty on the border with Kirigakure.He had been unequipped in every way to handle the needs of one ordinary page.Let alone Naruto, so desperate for approval and unaware of the dangerous yoke of destiny on his shoulders.Let alone volatile and resentful Sasuke, whose entire noble family had been murdered, who had burned with trauma, had demanded his attention in unforeseen and impossible ways.

Sakura had simply slipped through the cracks.The best thing he had done for her was to let her go, freeing her to excel under a different master.

Kakashi submerged himself in the water to clear his head.If he began on this path of dwelling on old failures, he would soak here well past sunset, overnight, and into the dawn. Spitefully, he held his breath and sank to the bottom of the river, demanding silence from his body’s instincts.

But, as always, he failed.When his lungs could take no more, his muscles reacted. They fired into the lifesaving rhythm of swimming, driving him up to air and earth and life.The instant his head breached the surface, his lungs expanded. His boy insisted on taking in air and forcing him to continue the tiresome pattern of breathing and eating and obligation that holds a body together.

But he was not alone at the riverbank this time.Sakura stood over him, holding his pants in her hands. 

“I was beginning to think you had drowned,” she said, her voice as cool as the water that enveloped him.“You can hold your breath quite a while.” 

Kakashi’s eyes widened, suddenly intimately aware of how clear and untouched the water of the river was—utterly without the murkiness that might provide a man a bit of dignity. 

“Can I help you with something,” he asked, forcing his words to contort into pleasantries even as his heart pounded in his throat. 

“I figured I would come to talk to you since you seem to be avoiding being alone with me.But I didn’t think I would literally be able to keep you here.”Sakura’s smile was wicked as she held up the cloth in her hands.It was true.He could either submit to the mortifying ordeal of honest conversation (something he had repeatedly denied her) or he could climb out of the river naked and claim his clothing.

“You are a cruel woman,” he said, his tone resigned. Carefully he scanned her expression for some indication of the direction of her thoughts.Her gaze was unyielding and demanding, promising no escape from this conversation.Even if he fled naked into the woods, yielding his pants and shirt to her siege, he would not be able to escape the inevitable.Sakura would find other ways of trapping him into confession. 

“First question,” she demanded.“Why are you avoiding me?”She held his shirt up to the wind, as though she would throw it into the lazy flow of the river and let it drift out of both of their reach.

“I’m not…” _avoiding you._ That was a lie. 

“I can’t do this anymore,” she said, her grip on his shirt tightening.“I can’t let you dance around me, ignoring me like this for the rest of our journey.Maybe you think I’m just a joke but-“ her voice twisted and broke, and Kakashi realized she was choking down emotion with every syllable. 

This, here, was his greatest sin of all.In all his desperate urge to protect her from pain, Kakashi had failed. 

But before he could even begin to search for the proper words, Sakura flattened her gaze and tightened her lips.She sank to the ground, getting comfortable for a sustained siege.“I’m not sorry I kissed you,” she said.“What you said in the cave—was that a lie?Was I just a convenient fool, there to scratch an itch before we died?”

Horror lanced through every nerve in his body“No,” he said, the word weak on his lips, emerging as a borrowed gasp.“Never.” 

“Are you only saying that because I have your pants hostage?”He could hear the dark vein of humor in her voice, but her eyes told a different story.They were green wells of pain, as piercing as an accusation. 

He could bear it no longer.

Kakashi emerged from the river to sit beside Sakura, allowing himself the transgression of her warmth.She did him the mercy of looking away and hading over his pants.The fabric clung to his wet form, but it was better than nothing. 

“So what do you have to say for yourself?” She asked, cocking an eyebrow and demanding further truth.

“You have your reputation to consider.”He tried.

“Yours is at greater risk for seducing a squire.”Then- “we just won’t tell anyone.”

“I’m Knight-Captain of the guard, I don’t plan to marry.”

“I’m not asking for marriage.Although if that’s what _you_ are after…”

He gaped at her, horrified as he realized what he had just suggested. 

“Tsunade will kill me,” he said, in a last-ditch attempt at throwing a barrier between them. 

“What happens on the road is none of her business.”

“I should never have touched you,” he said hoarsely.“In Konoha.In the cave.I’m too old for you, in a thousand different ways.”Sakura was silent a long moment. “I don’t care,” she said after she seemed to get her thoughts in order. “I’m not some love-struck maiden, and I wanted you to kiss me then, and I want you to kiss me n-“

Sakura’s hands flew to her mouth, stemming the tide of words.Kakashi wanted, so desperately to make this easy.To lean down and grant her wish with the press of his lips and put and end to this conversation.It would be so much easier to drift into skin on skin, flesh on flesh, skipping over the need for confession. 

But that was not what Sakura was owed.She deserved to know what wreckage of a man sat before her. 

“I would ruin you." The words dragged themselves from his throat, and he waited for Sakura to understand that she was meant for so much more than him. Instead, she only arched her eyebrows and wryly said, "tell me you aren't worried about my virtue. You're a little late for that one." Even the insinuation that there had been other men in her life sent an unwelcome lance of jealousy through his heart. But, undaunted, Kakashi continued. He had to make her understand. 

"I ruin everything I touch.I killed my best friend,” he said.He waited for the gasp of horror, the look of disgust. It did not come, and she silently indicated he should continue. Obligingly, he did. For the first time, Kakashi released the whole wretched story into the world. 

“During our first year of page training.We weren’t even supposed to be alone out on the border, we should have been under the supervision of King Minato, but we didn’t listen.I was supposed to be a prodigy, invincible.And when we were attacked, I was useless.”

“You were a page,” Sakura said, her voice soft.“You weren’t supposed to be invincible.”

“An arrow took my eye,“ Kakashi continued, shame thick in his chest.“Any deeper and I would have died.Obito had to to drag me to safety as I bled out.Then, just when we thought we were safe, the rockslide began.We were on the border of Iwagakure, see, and we had forgotten that they have forces everywhere…even above.”Sakura let out a sharp inhale of breath.She was clever, she could tell where this was going. 

“Obito pushed me out of the way, but he was trapped—half crushed by boulders.I wasn’t a medic but even I could tell he was dying.Rin, the third page on our squad, tried to save him but it was no use.”Here, he couldn’t resist the reflex the made him look away, unable to face her.“He begged Rin to save me as he died.To take his eye and graft it into mine.He was one of the Uchiha, and as you know what their Sharingan can do. This was the year before King Minato died, and Rin was training to become a battlefield medic.In those days, it was still legal to harness sorcery for such things, and she was an excellent student.She could even do the impossible…”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Sakura said, her voice a whisper.“You didn’t kill him.”

“I _let_ her take his eye.I should never have allowed it.If she had been able to use all of her power, without the distraction of my _stupid_ injury, he might still be alive.But in the end, I was too pathetic.I just wanted the pain to stop.” 

Slowly, Sakura lifted a hand and ran her thumb along Kakashi’s cheekbone, just below the socket where the Sharingan had been implanted. It would be remembered as a weakness, Kakashi knew, but he could not resist leaning into the softness of her palm. 

“You’re an idiot,” she said, voice gentle with fondness. His mouth tightened but he did not pull away. 

“No medic would let a patient die if she could help it,” she said.“It’s part of our training, from the moment we begin healing we are made very aware of our power over life and death.This Rin?There was nothing she could have done for Obito.If you asked, I’m sure she would tell you herself.”

“The dead don’t answer many questions,” Kakashi said flatly.It was a wound he would never discuss.As he glanced into Sakura’s softened gaze, he knew he would never be able to tellher of the way Rin’s blood had spilled into the snow; of the way Rin’s gaze had glinted off the shined metal of his blade. 

“Well then I’m telling you now,” she said, “there was no other choice.”Kakashi had to admire the boldness of her. It seemed disrespectful to Rin’s memory in some way, to doubt that she could have pulled Obito from the jaws of death.There was no sentimentality in the way Sakura delivered her diagnosis. 

But as Kakashi took in the fierceness of Sakura’s gaze, the determination in her jaw, the thought crossed his mind that Rin would have liked her. 

“There was nothing you could have done,” she said.“You did what you should have—stayed alive.” 

“Thank you.”The words slipped out unbidden, for what else was there to say?You did not argue with Sakura Haruno, he was coming to find.

“You’ve been punishing yourself too long,” she said.“Let yourself have this, just once.” 

And then she kissed him, killing all further excuses.He was helpless at her touch, which was insistent and firm and running a ragged course down his naked chest.Kakashi could not help but respond, tearing at the buttons of her shirt and pulling it off her shoulders to reveal the soft mound of her breasts.

If Kakashi had cataloged all of the things he did not deserve, the list would have looked like this:

Sakura Haruno peeling her clothes off and taking him by the hand, to draw him into the clear waters of the Naka River.

His hands pressing into the firm muscle of her thighs and the sweet high note of her voice as his fingers brushed her apex. 

The sweet curve of her smile as he lifted her up to rest on a round smooth stone in the middle of the river. 

The way her ankles locked themselves around his shoulders, and the taste of her: sharp and sweet and bursting with summer. 

The feeling of her fingers carding their way through his hair, and the pitch of her voice demanding more, more, _more._

The tension of her muscles as she reached the sigh of her release, and the boneless way she slid into the water beside him. 

And yet it was his.All of it.All of her. 

Still unsatisfied, she brushed her fingers along his length under the water.He melted into her touch, relishing in the current of water and the friction of her skin.Somehow they reached the edge of the river but his thoughts were too hazy to register much more than the feel of the soft skin of her neck under his lips, the wet curl of her hair in his hands, the rhythm of her hand. 

On the shore of the riverbank, he drew her into his lap, taking the bite of the stones for himself. (It was what he deserved, for what he would do next.For what he had already done). 

“We shouldn’t do this,” he whispered one last attempt at turning course.“You deserve better.”

“I want _this,”_ she said, sliding onto him, taking his entire length to the hilt. The feel of her on him, the taste of her tongue, the sharp bite of rock in his back, all of it melted into one overwhelming rush of sensation.They stayed like that for what felt like years, as Sakura’s breath progressed from gasps to light little moans.Kakashi struggled for his own air, breathing ragged against her.His hips stuttered against hers, and his teeth bit into the skin of her shoulder, and then-

They collapsed that way; limbs entwined and breathing heavily.She was beautiful and spent, rivulets of pink hair spread out across her cheek.His heart clenched in his chest at the petal pink of her lips, the perfect curve of her nose, the softness of her cheek pressed so neatly to his chest.He didn’t want this moment to end.This couldn’t continue.There was too much before her, and Kakashi would only hold her back. 

“I know what you’re thinking,” she said her voice a satisfied murmur. Her eyes were closed and she nuzzled gently into the muscle of his shoulder.“Don’t you dare do it.”

“Do what,” he asked, leaning close to steal a kiss from the delicate lobe of her ear. 

“Ruin the moment by saying we shouldn’t do this again.”

“You said it not me.” 

“We can sort it out later,” she conceded, closing her eyes.“Let’s just enjoy the moment while we can.” 


	14. xiii. a trick laid down on us

xiii. A trick laid down on us

When Sakura remembered the journey home through the forests, she would remember it as being breathless with joy.There had never been a time when she felt so at peace.In the mornings when she woke early to sneak out of Kakashi’s tent, her sense of content was so powerful it was dizzying.She would collapse into her sleeping roll and laugh, desperate to pen a letter to Ino and tell her of her newfound good fortune. 

But she couldn’t.Kakashi had spoken true: they had both of their reputations to consider.It would not look good for her to return from the most important mission of her career, entangled with the knight in charge of the operation.And it would look even worse for Kakashi to have seduced the squire under his command. 

After that first tryst in the river, she and Kakashi had agreed that it should not happen again.There was no future for them; they would be doomed to tragedy; it was inappropriate.A thousand facts had supported the decision, feeding their reasoning into one dreadful reasonable choice.Their shared adventure in the river would finish what they had started in Sunagakure and nothing more. 

But then at dinner, Kakashi’s grey piercing eye had met her own over the campfire.The intensity seemed to pierce her skin, sending shivers up her spine, and she had been unable to resist.Sakura found an excuse to visit his tent that evening and that had been that.His lips had been on hers before she could even close the tent flap, and she had been unable to resist tearing his shirt off and relishing in the lean muscle of his torso. (Had she wanted to discuss cartography?Strategy?Food supply management?The very topic that had formed the bones of her excuse was forgotten by the following morning.) 

That too should have been the end of it.She should have been satisfied with the feel of his hands reaching through her travel-stained shirt, his fingers tweaking at her nipple, the delicious stretch of him within her.But Old Chiyo had been right about Sakura.She hungered. 

After, they reached a new compromise.The talks had lasted hours into the night, with frequent interruptions in the form of stolen kisses and clever fingers tracing the inside of Sakura’s thighs.On one side of the negotiation table sat their careers, on the other was every instinct in Sakura’s body screaming for satisfaction.

And, like all compromises, it was not fully satisfactory for either party.They both knew this could not last, but they also knew that if they tried to resist the magnetic pull between them, it would end in failure.Accordingly, Sakura and Kakashi would give themselves until the end of their journey.Once they returned to the scrutiny of the castle, a relationship between a squire and a knight would be unacceptable.She _knew_ there could be no future between them, deeply in her bones.But the forest would be a reprieve before the end.

And she accepted it.Or at least, she tried to.With every passing day, as they drew closer and closer to the city, Sakura’s joy wilted.Her fantasies of slipping off into the woods and disappearing with Kakashi grew increasingly elaborate, swelling to include more stolen horses, cottages, herb gardens that Kakashi grudgingly attended for her sake.It was the kind of fantasy she had to cut off quickly before it meandered too far into the absurd and picturesque. 

Her melancholy was usually chased away by Kakashi, when they slipped away to practice setting snares for rabbits, when he slipped into her tent in the late hours after his turn at watch, when he played with her hair as they slept wrapped in each other’s limbs.But then their time would be shattered and reality would set back in.

By the time the streaming banners of Konoha’s castle appeared on the horizon, Sakura’s joy fully transformed into misery.

To prepare herself for their goodbye, Sakura had taken to riding at the back of the caravan with Kurenai.They had grown close over the journey, bonding in the way that only two women surrounded by men could.While Sakura did not dare share her secret relationship with Kakashi, it was comforting to feel like she had a friend. 

“We should be home by nightfall,” Sakura said as the flags of Konoha appeared at the end of the tree line, and the forest floor turned into the hardpacked dirt of the road. 

Kurenai took one look at Sakura, taking in the younger girl’s slumped shoulders and knitted brow, and shook her head.“Captain!” She shouted over the caravan, “We should camp here!”

It was so surprising a suggestion that Kakashi stopped his horse immediately.“If we ride hard we’ll be there by tonight,” Kakashi shouted back.

“That’s the problem,” Kurenai hollered, with no respect for decorum.“My horse is tired and can’t take the pace.”

Sakura examined Kurenai’s horse, which was scrupulously tended and showed no signs of injury.Such a ride should be no problem.Kakashi seemed to know this as well, his expression lit with skepticism.Sakura wanted to smack him for the hesitation—an extra night on the road was an extra night together.But she didn’t dare, not under the gaze of the other members of the guard.Their respect had been so hard-won, and she would be loathe to lose it for sleeping with their commanding officer.

“I second this,” Izumo called from somewhere in the middle of the group, taking up the cause.“If we stop here, we get an extra night of rest. If we get in too early, they’ll put us on day-watch tomorrow.” 

This convinced the rest of their party to lend their voices in support, indignant in advance at the thought of being forced to work after their “tiring” journey.Sakura was baffled by the sudden mutiny.Kakashi had already set a pace home that Sakura could only describe as leisurely, and most of the guard had done little more in Sunagakure than flirt with foreign knights and eat foreign food.If Sakura hadn’t risked her neck fighting Sasori, she would have called it a vacation. 

But perhaps Kakashi was as loathe to give up their relationship as she because after a moment of contemplation, he conceded. 

“We camp here,” he finally relented, gesturing to a clearing ahead.“So close to home we should only need one watchman, so _enjoy it._ Because as soon as we get home, I’m putting you tourists to work.” 

Sakura couldn’t stop her smile, desperately glad for one more evening with Kakashi.It was such a welcome thought that she didn’t even blush when Izumo looked back at her and winked.

* * *

“We could keep doing this,” Sakura murmured into Kakashi’s chest, utterly spent.“It doesn’t have to stop when we get home.”They were drenched in sweat, naked, and collapsed against one another for the final time. 

Kakashi’s gaze was dark when he looked down on her.The thought struck her that this might be the last time she saw him unmasked and without his eyepatch.Even such a small loss caused a surprising amount of pain.“We discussed this,” he replied.For all that his expression was grim, his words were soft and relenting.“If we were caught it could be disastrous for you.”

“For you, you mean,” she said wrinkling her nose.“Tsunade would have you executed if she knew.” 

Kakashi chuckled at the thought, then took her chin between his fingers to tilt her face up for a kiss. 

“I want to recommend you for The Proving when we return.You’ll be earlier than the other squires in your year, but I think you’re more than ready.But if anyone found out about us, it would cast doubt on my recommendation.”

“I don’t care,” she replied.But even as she spoke her mind whirled at the possibility of joining the upper-class of squires in their Proving. She could make knighthood before any of her peers.What a turn it would be, from her page years when she had been nothing but the overlooked coward of her squadron. 

“I care,” Kakashi said fiercely.“You deserve to have no doubts about your abilities.” 

This protective side of Kakashi, which emerged with greater frequency these days, made her stomach do flips.He respected her.He wanted everyone else to fall in line with that respect.He wanted her to have a long career as a knight, slaying monsters and defending the realm. 

It was a stark difference from Tsunade, whose philosophy was that it shouldn’t matter if anyone knew what Sakura was capable of.What mattered to the regent was that the work got done, not who gained the glory at the end of the day. 

Unbidden memories of the tournament and their argument slipped into her head.Once, he had been so concerned for her safety that he had been willing to sacrifice her reputation.The girl armoring up alone, for a match she wouldn’t win, would have killed for Kakashi to say that he respected her power.Here tangled up in his arms, that girl seemed as distant as a stranger and as familiar as a lover.

Once again, she wanted him to let her take the risk, but he stood in the way.This time, however, she wasn’t risking her life to fight for glory.The only prize she sought was more _time._

But he was right.There was no future between them.Not when she had a knighthood to seek, when he had the guard to run, and a discovery of their relationship could destroy the only dream she had nurtured since childhood. 

“So this is goodbye,” she said, shutting her eyes against the sudden swell of tears. 

“For now, perhaps,” he said so softly she could barely hear it.“Who knows what the future holds.”

* * *

In the morning, the weather seemed to have caught Sakura’s gloom. Grey clouds blocked out the sun ad Rain threatened to lash them with cold water.As stone walls emerged from the trees before them, and the city sounds of the capital filled the air, Sakura could feel her heart bend and twist. 

Silently she made herself a vow: she would not let this break her.What kind of knight would she be if she returned, not triumphant, but weeping and furious that she had been asked to give up one ill-advised affair?What did she and Kakashi _really_ share, besides the occasional bedroll?There had been no promises between them, no talk of a shared future.

Beside her, at the front of their caravan, Kakashi rode with his head held high.He had the advantage of a mask to cover half of his face and an eye patch that left the public with only a sliver of visible emotion.Sakura couldn’t help but resent the fact that he seemed unchanged by their trip to Sunagakure.Any witness would only see the same distant Kakashi as always, unaffected by the world around him. 

There was no welcome party to greet them at the walls, compounding on Sakura’s bad mood.Did no one in Konoha know what they had faced?Did no one care that she and Kakashi had taken down two Akatsuki members and thus deserved a hero’s welcome? 

But of course, the world did not contort itself to comfort one girl with a broken heart. 

As they rode through the town, it struck Sakura that the mood of the city was oddly subdued.People conducted their business, but with the threat of rain, they were few.Those who were out shopping seemed to avert their gaze from the group, only casting glances their way when they thought that no one noticed.

After the third cluster of people in whispers, Sakura’s fury warped into concern.One young man in a messenger’s livery pointed directly at her and Kakashi as he spoke to a companion.In all the songs about knights returning home, there were throngs of happy people, children throwing flower petals, handsome lords waiting with proposals of marriage.None of them spoke of this hidden current of suspicion and animosity. 

“Does anything seem _strange_ to you,” Sakura asked Kakashi, careful to keep her voice low.“I thought there would be more…welcome.”

“Be careful,” he said by way of an un-comforting reply.“People keep staring at you.We shouldn’t linger out here for long.”He reached over to put a hand on her forearm and squeezed, just once, before kicking his horse into a trot.

Sakura glared down at her hands before following.She hadn’t noticed that she was the center of attention but now that Kakashi had pointed it out she could see that he was right. The messenger had pointed directly at _her._ And now as they rode she couldn’t help but feel the sharpness of the glares directed her way, helpless to her own imagination as people whispered.

They entered through the great wooden doors of the castle, leaving their horses to be curried and combed by stablehands.It was suddenly imperative that Sakura reach home, to her own territory, to face what she might find there. 

As the doors creaked open for them, leading to the great courtyard at the center of the castle, Sakura suddenly felt how empty the stone building seemed.She had spent her entire youth here, schooled by the quartermasters who educated young nobles in everything from etiquette to hand-to-hand combat.After her time spent in Sunagakure—a city filled with light and commerce and thrumming with magic—the castle of Konoha seemed to bleed with forbidding silence. 

The courtyard should have been filled with squires sparring against one another, preparing for the day.Instead, she barely caught sight of the staff as they hurried through the open air to handle the business of the day.

Then, in the center of the courtyard, she finally caught a glimpse of a familiar figure. 

Sasuke, clothed as though he had wrapped himself in shadows, waited for them.He stood with the easy grace of someone who held command of all he surveyed.In their absence, he had made himself too comfortable.As the king’s champion, he had every right to the castle, but some part of Sakura still chafed at the sight of him. 

He had taken her title, and she would not forgive that fact so easily. 

“I heard of your approach,” he said as they neared, bowing in welcome.For all his manners, he seemed to make a mockery of the gesture.“I trust your journey home was uneventful?Your exploits have been much discussed here.”

Beside her, Kakashi stiffened.Sakura had not written to Tsunade since the attack—she was too careful to put pen to paper about her abilities.It had been left to Kakashi to shape the narrative. 

He wouldn’t have betrayed her secret.She knew it in her bones.

But the way his postured tensed and readied for conflict—there were worries he had not shared with her.

“Where is everyone?”Sakura spoke first.“It’s past the morning bell.They should be out sparring.”

“The _squires_ ,” he emphasized, “have been given the day off.To mourn and prepare.”

The breath caught in Sakura’s throat.“Mourn who?”When Sasuke didn’t immediately answer, Sakura put her hand on her sword.“Who died?” It was a demand.Kakashi stood by, his gaze following her but making no motion to stop her.She knew him well enough now to read his expressions, and in his lone visible eye she could see the beginnings of sorrow. 

He knew something she did not.

“No one is dead yet,” Sasuke dismissed her concerns.“But she will be soon.”He spared Sakura a glance, letting every insinuation in his words strike home. 

“Ah but you must forgive me,” he continued.“You wouldn’t have heard while on the road.” 

Terror gripped her then, and somehow she knew what Sasuke would say next.Kakashi must have as well, because he stepped forward to put a hand on Sakura’s shoulder, steadying her for the blow yet to come.

“Tsunade has been arrested for treason,” Sasuke said, his eyes flicking between Kakashi and Sakura.“It seems she’s been practicing sorcery in secret for years.” 

~~

Sakura’s ears roared as she was led from the courtyard into her quarters.Kakashi steered her away from Sasuke, his eye darting back and forth as though he expected a fight to break out at any moment.The only thing that kept her standing was the steadying feel of his hand on her elbow, guiding her gently out of the courtyard. 

“Stay here,” Kakashi said gently.They had reached her rooms.Sakura registered that the space felt foreign to her; she had been away for so long it was as though the room she had left behind belonged to another girl.A girl who had never kissed Kakashi, who had never faced Sasori in a foreign desert.

Whose greatest mentor was not an enemy of the state.

Kakashi led her to her bed, his touch insistent even as his words were calming.“It’s been a long journey,” he said, “rest.I will sort this out.” 

It was comforting that he did not lie to her.Not once did he try to say there had been a mistake, that Sasuke had been deceiving them.

The kiss Kakashi placed on her forehead was soft with pity.It was a transgression that would have delighted her an hour ago, when she had not known the price at which it would come.At that moment she desperately wanted to believe he would make it all better.Then he was gone.It was a beautiful fantasy, but she could not wait for him,Sakura could not sit here alone.Tsunade was _hers._ The first person who had seen her as more than a lost girl with no place among proper knights.Who had not treated like glass when Sasuke had fled the kingdom when Naruto had departed to chase destiny with Jiraiya, when Kakashi had silently retreated into his work with the guard.She was the mother who had guided her as Sakura crossed the barrier from awkward girl to squire.When Sakura envisioned the day of her knighting, she envisioned Tsunade in the front row of the audience, face warm with pride. 

Sakura would not let this stand. 

Kakashi was extremely capable, and Sakura had no doubt he knew how to lead the guard with finesse.But this was _her_ burden to bear. 

* * *

Naruto’s chambers had not changed since his page days.Rather than move into the royal quarters, he had chosen to remain with the other squires. The biggest change was that his room no longer looked like a massive pile of laundry.Someone had taught him to clean, although Sakura suspected it was more likely staff had been assigned to his chambers.A king should not live in squalor.

What had changed the most was Naruto himself.His face was grim at the sight of Sakura, but without a trace of surprise at her visit. He did not rise to greet her, instead sitting on the edge of his perfectly made bed.

“You heard,” he said, his voice flat. 

“Your _champion_ told me.”Sakura threw the word between them, inwardly shocked that she still carried such bitterness at the stolen title.Naruto did not flinch at the vitriol in her tone but bore it with the same grave expression. 

_Like a king,_ a part of her mocked.

She wanted to slap that expression off his face.

“I wanted to be the one to warn you,” he said.Gone was the boyish excuses and rambunctious protests of their page years.“I sent word to Sunagakure.You didn’t receive my message?”

“Word hadn’t reached us,” she fired back.She had noticed, in those final days on the road, that there had been no word from home.It had not concerned her at the time.She had been too wrapped up in the joys of the road, the camaraderie at camp, the warmth of Kakashi’s embrace as they slept in his tent. 

No, it was far more accurate to say she had _refused_ to let concern take her.She had not wanted to see anything but the fierce joy of the moment.Now it struck her as terrible oversight.They should have received messages from home. 

Horror filled her as she realized they must have been intercepted.Someone in the castle had not wanted Kakashi and Sakura to know that Tsunade was in custody.They wanted the regent to be without allies. 

“How could you let this happen?” Sakura demanded.“You _know_ she wasn’t a traitor.”

This time Naruto could not meet her gaze.He looked down at his hands as he explained ion an unrelenting monotone of words.“The Akatsuki attacked while you were gone.Two of them alone this time.No puppets and no explosions.But they were still stronger than anything I had ever seen.I was useless, _Sasuke_ was useless.Tsunade saved my life.But she had to use sorcery to do it.”

“And you repaid her by _arresting_ her?”“Never,” Naruto protested, with wide, horrified eyes at the suggestion.“Jiraiya would never allow it.But somehow, word got out to Lord Danzo and the other old assholes.”

“You’re the king!You could have stopped them, you could have ordered her free.You could still pardon her.”A cool part of Sakura chided her for the hysterical pitch of her own voice, but it was not in control enough to stop her.

“There was a trial,” Naruto continued on with his story, without a care for the rising hysteria in Sakura’s tone.“She admitted to studying dark magic, outside of the laws of the land.She claimed all of it, even said that was how she had risen to the position of regent.Never mind that I had _invited_ her.She’s King Hashirama’s granddaughter.She could have claimed the throne for herself on blood-right alone.But she never asked for the crown.She told me once that she had no heart for this place.”

Sakura did not care to hear what asides Tsunade had shared with Naruto.Who did he think he was to speak of Tsunade so, when he was the one who had as good as killed her? 

“Why haven’t you done anything to stop it? Are you afraid of a bunch of old men?”The accusation came sharp to her lips.Naruto did flinch at that, as surely as if she had slapped him.But he did not need to say anything.Sakura could see now why it was not Naruto that Kakashi had saught to fix this.He had gone to look for someone with _real_ power.

“They control everything,” Naruto said.“We rely on them for troops for our wars, grain for our bread. A king is nothing to the hunger of his people.A single sword is nothing in the face of an invasion, no matter how powerful.” 

Sakura wanted to scream.How could Tsunade have allowed this to happen?It was painfully clear now that Naruto was too weak to stop this.But Tsunade herself could have ended each of them.She could have unleashed her wrath a thousand times over, eliminating Danzo and the skittering mass of politicians that clung so greedily to power.She could have fled the country into the wilds of the forest.Tsunade had done it before, forsaking Konoha when the first decree against sorcery had been passed and her trade had suddenly become a crime. 

“Your name came up in the trial,” Naruto said, his voice a thousand miles away. 

“What?”

“Lord Danzo asked if you were party to her crimes.He asked you were being trained to be her successor, to claim my position after killing me.” 

“If you think that’s true-“

“I know you,” Naruto spat.He finally met her gaze head-on, his eyes glittering with furious certainty.“You aren’t interested in a crown.It was a ploy to lay a trap for you when you returned.That’s why I wrote to you in Sunagakure.To tell you to stay away.To stay _safe._ ” 

“Well I’m here now,” she said, wanting to collapse to her knees.She could see now why Tsunade had accepted her judgment without protest.

It had been to protect Sakura. 

“I didn’t think it would be like this,” Naruto said, gesturing for Sakura to sit.“When I first drew the sword from it’s resting place, I never thought it would mean inheriting a kingdom. And then, when Jiraiya took me into the wilderness to learn what kinghood meant… he never made it sound like this.”

“Like what,” Sakura demanded, irritation growing within her.“Like power?”The word escaped her lips unbidden.But now as it hung between them, she saw in stark clarity that power was the true heart of the universe.

And she had none of it. She did not have the power to make Kakashi stay.She did not have the power to change the laws of Konoha.She did not have the power to save Tsunade. 

“Do you think this is power?” Naruto fired back, fire burning in his voice now.“Konoha is a prison.I never asked for power over life and death, and in the end, it was never even given to me.I don’t run this kingdom.I did what Tsunade told me, and now when she is gone, I’ll have to do what Danzo orders.Because if I don’t, our people will starve.Our lands will be overrun.We are under attack and I am nothing but a useless figurehead.”

“You could _try_ ,” Sakura snarled.She could feel the thin lines of power that dictated the kingdom, how it wrapped itself throughout the castle leading to this one final moment.Kakashi’s attempt at freeing Tsunade would be useless.Danzo held the true power here, and he would do nothing to pardon Tsunade.Sakura could see him: foaming at the mouth at the idea of his greatest rival’s fall from grace.

“My coronation is tonight.”The flat affect had returned to Naruto’s voice.“Danzo wants to see me crowned now that Tsunade has been exposed as a traitor.He wants me ready to stand in judgment at her execution tomorrow.”

The syllables of the word lanced through Sakura, leaving more agony in their wake than Sasori’s venom ever could. 

“I want you there,” Naruto continued, oblivious to Sakura’s agony.“We were pages together— you were nearly my champion.If Sasuke had not come home, it would have been you.”

_it should have been you_

He did not say it, but the careful way he delivered the invitation spoke volumes.It was the closest they would ever get to discussing what Sasuke had cost her.

What it would cost the realm was still a great unknown, lurking in the darkness like a trap.But Sakura could not fathom that.Suddenly she did not care for the safety of the realm, or it’s king.She did not care to be Champion.

Her focus had narrowed to three facts.

First: Naruto would do nothing to stop this, and Kakashi would be unable to change this fate.

Second: it would fall to Sakura to do what was necessary. 

Third: Tsunade would die if she failed.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so maybe I am overthinking things, but I've been doing a lot of thinking about things like contracts with readers. When you publish a book you have lots of things that signal what kind of book you are writing, and what readers can expect for the end. I realize with fic, you don't have as much padding and just have to hope your readers trust you. So I hope that I've built up enough trust for some of the things that are coming up??? Not in this chapter, but coming up on the horizon. (we are roughly just past the midpoint, FYI! This was supposed to be just a 50k fic but uhhhh things got out of hand.). Since we are past the midpoint...the tone is shifting a bit. 
> 
> As I said, I am probably overthinking, but I don't want you guys to feel like I've pulled the rug out from under you in the coming chapters? I've set a contract with the first half of this fic and I do plan on fulfilling it. 
> 
> Anyway thank you guys so much for all your comments and I hope you enjoy!!

xiv. it was not at your disposal; you had a duty towards it

“The court’s judgment is final,” Danzo said, his voice a self-satisfied growl. 

Stiff from riding for days, exhausted from nights without proper rest, and furious, Kakashi stood before Danzo ready for combat.He itched to draw his blade and settle this matter of sorcery and Tsunade with steel and blood.But he was a courtier by blood, if not by trade, and he could master those baser instincts. 

“Need I remind you that Tsunade has served as regent for four years without incident, guiding Konoha into a period of greater stability than _anything_ we saw under King Hiruzen.What evidence could possibly stand in the face of such a record.”Whispers from the surrounding clerks and courtiers filled the room at Kakashi’s rebuttal. 

It was never wise to fight a battle such as this with witnesses, but Kakashi had no choice. He had arrived in the midst of a flurry of activity and now every occupant of the room was turned their attention to the battle at the center of the room. 

“We have witness accounts of the use of dark magics, a crime which I am sure you remember is punishable by death.Worse, we suspect she is conspiring with her old companion, Orochimaru.”Danzo let the word _companion_ linger, full of insinuation.Then, he had the gall to wave a dismissive hand in Kakashi’s direction.“Now, if you have an issue with the rule of law, please take it up elsewhere.Your king is to be crowned tonight, and there is much to prepare.”That explained the flurry of activity.There had been no plans for a coronation a month ago, and such a ceremony took time to prepare.

Kakashi nearly summoned the lighting that was his birthright and used it on the old man right then and there. 

The laws against sorcery were unenforcible; Kakashi himself was living proof of that.He also had no doubt in his mind that Danzo suspected as much.This was just a useful cudgel to wield against his political enemies.If Danzo had not been able to accuse Tsunade of sorcery, it likely would have been embezzling or licentious behavior that sealed her fate.This was just the first opportunity to eliminate a rival that had been a thorn in his side for four years. 

“The deaths of eighteen years ago should not dictate the deaths of today,” Kakashi snapped.“If you think this is in the realm’s best interest, you are a blind fool.”He could still remember the day the laws had changed, forever ending the kingdom of his youth.The laws against sorcery were a piece of nonsense legislation, written in haste by a man who should never have been king, to soothe the wounds of a grieving nation. 

Before he could say something more incriminating, Sir Jiraiya emerged from the shadows.He wore a broad smile meant for peacemaking and good humor.Stepping between Danzo and Kakashi, he said “You have been on a long journey, Sir Kakashi.”His voice boomed off the walls as he emphasized the Sir in Kakashi’s title.It was a petty jab, meant to remind him of his duty. 

_Duty_ , a familiar and tiresome friend.

Kakashi tried to ignore him, brushing the bigger man aside to stride forward and (‘what?’ a part of him demanded.Seek satisfaction by duel from an old man?)But Sir Jiraiya would not budge, saving Kakashi from his own folly.He put a big hand on Kakashi’s shoulder, applying enough force to hold him in place.“Perhaps we should go for a drink.”

It would do no good to engage in a power struggle with one of his few allies. Kakashi grunted in surrender, allowing Sir Jiraiya to lead him out of the office.As they escaped into the brighter hallways of the castle, Kakashi turned for one final jab.

“You’ll burn this realm to the ground for politics,” he hissed. 

Sai, the squire Danzo had once ordered to kill Sakura, shut the door in Kakashi’s face.

“That was foolish,” Sir Jiraiya said as they walked away.“It does no good to telegraph your plans.”

“I don’t have any plans,” Kakashi groused.“Just grievances.” 

“Even worse, then.Now Danzo will be looking over your shoulder from the shadows and you won’t have the time to put together a plan.If you’re lucky he won’t put a dagger in your back before tonight’s coronation, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.Luck seems to be in short supply in Konoha these days.” 

Kakashi caught it then: pain twisted into the curve of Sir Jiraiya ’s smile.Tsunade and Sir Jiraiya had once been pages together, but their relationship beyond that was a mystery.Looking at him now, Kakashi could see a man coming undone.He had missed it, there in Danzo’s office.But now, out of the weasel’s den, Kakashi could see all the ways the older man’s muscled clenched and unclenched, the way his hands ran shakily through his long, messy, white hair.

Did he have a plan to rescue Tsunade?Kakashi knew better than to ask outright— Kakashi may be a fan of Sir Jiraiya’s work, but that did not mean they had trust.Sir Jiraiya would just as likely assume that Kakashi meant to sabotage the rescue to curry favor with the new power players of Konoha. 

Kakashi’s own plan had only gotten as far as confronting Danzo.Some latent thread of hubris and naïveté had convinced him that by returning home triumphant and _useful_ he would have the leverage to convince Danzo to spare Tsunade. 

He had been a blind fool.

But as Kakashi observed Sir Jiraiya further, he could see the determination in his gaze.An invisible purpose binding him together, just long enough to see it through to a conclusion.Sir Jiraiya’s plan would not be reached through debate and politics.That was not what the older knight was known for.No, he was known for charging into impossible solutions and turning the tides of battle.

What would it mean to stage a rescue for Tsunade?How would it alter the flow of power in Konoha?It would mean risking his life, his career, even his honor.If caught, the Hatake line would be forever named traitors of the realm; much like the Sasuke had damned the Uchiha.Even if it was a success, and they slipped through easily, Kakashi would be under suspicion for the rest of Danzo’s life.The old man would look to Tsuande’s allies and mark them all as traitors and enemies, forever seeking smooth ways of dispatching them. 

Kakashi and Tsunade had no great ties.They had a working relationship, but that was not enough to take such a risk.The older woman had made her own choices, and she would never expect Kakashi to bend the course of his life to rescue her.

But then Kakashi remembered Sakura’s face.Her mouth a thin, bloodless line.Her eyes wide and distant, not registering what stood before her.The shake of her hands, the fear in her gaze. 

He would do it for her. 

As soon as the realization struck him, Kakashi realized he was damned a thousand times over. 

“Let’s get that drink,” he said, gesturing for Sir Jiraiya to follow him to his private quarters.It took but a moment to check the room for hidden staff, to ensure that they were truly alone.Then he uncorked a bottle of whiskey from his private cabinet, pouring each of them a thumb of amber liquid.

“Naruto is to be crowned tonight, I hear,” Kakashi said, his voice thoughtful.“Danzo did not think to wait?In his position, I would have allowed time for visiting dignitaries to join us.Our alliance with Sunagakure is quite strong at the moment, if I do say so myself.They may take the lack of invitation as an offense.”

“At eighteen, Naruto must take the throne for himself.With his regent incapacitated, anyone can seize control in his delay.Even Danzo knows this.Or,” Sir Jiraiya shrugged thoughtfully.“He can appoint another regent.”

“And he has so far declined to do so?” 

“Danzo volunteered for the position,” Sir Jiraiya replied, his voice dark.“But fortunately Naruto had enough sense to decline.” 

“In some ways, I never truly thought he would claim the throne,” Kakashi said, leaning back in his chair and taking a deep sip of his drink.The smokey, bitter taste was a relief after nothing but the sour liquor of Sunagakure and weeks on the road, 

“He’s not ready,” Sir Jiraiya said.His voice was a growl.“He will be someday, or he would have been with Tsunade to guide him.I did my best by him on the road, I trained him exactly as I trained his father once.But Naruto is not Minato.He’s unpredictable and burns with a fury that could engulf the kingdom in its flame.”

Kakashi raised his eyebrow in agreement, lifting his glass to take another drink.“I remember his years as a page—when we faced down those bandits from the Kingdom of Waves.Then once again, during the trials when Orochimaru led his attack.At the time, he didn’t have The Forest Flame.”The Ancient Sword of Konoha, the very weapon that had burned through King Minato, turning him into a crisp of ash.His young bride, still recovering from childbirth had run to him at that moment, and died for her efforts.It had been a slow death, taking days as the burns ran their course through her body. 

Kakashi had seen all of it.He shuddered to think of what might have occurred if Naruto had accessed the sword earlier.It was possible he would have suffered the same fate as his father.

“Perhaps he will grow out of it,” Kakashi allowed.“Perhaps a kingdom will season him.”

Sir Jiraiya’s scoff was a harsh, unwelcome interjection.“Do you know why Naruto turned Danzo down?”The older man’s face was a grim scowl.“Danzo made the mistake of implying _Sasuke_ was a part of the treason.I had to restrain Naruto from physically attacking him.”

“Sasuke Uchiha is a problem,” Kakashi said.It was a familiar thought.When Kakashi had been put in charge of the boys’ training, it was something he had said frequently to King Hiruzen.“And Danzo might not be far off in his accusation.”

Sir Jiraiya grunted in affirmation.“I have been investigating his activities over the last four years, but it is as though there is nothing.The Sound has fallen into disarray, and I can’t get a spy inside the castle.Orochimaru was slippery at the best of times, but this is different.Any time I try to get a man inside, they either come back dead or never return at all.And there is no word of what Sasuke did in that period.What of Orochimaru’s secrets he might have discovered.”

“Thrilling,” Kakashi sighed.“More worries for tomorrow.”

This lured a smile out of Sir Jiraiya.Old soldiers always enjoyed a bit of gallows humor.

“I shudder to think of what will come of this execution,” Kakashi said, delicately raising the topic.He needed to shift this away from Sasuke.“Naruto adored Tsunade, respected her completely.If he watches her die…or god forbid Danzo expects him to wield to the blade-“

“That’s why we can’t allow it,” Sir Jiraiya said, taking in Kakashi’s reaching with an uncharacteristically severe glare.It was a test, to see if Kakashi would flinch at this casual treason.

“The coronation will be under too much of a guard,” Kakashi said, rising to the challenge.“But tonight, when everyone has drunk themselves into a stupor it may be easier.”

“It will be a somber occasion,” Sir Jiraiya cut his planning off.“Tsunade was well-liked, Danzo is not.The people are still unsure of Naruto.Some will celebrate—there are always fools looking for the next reason to drink—but the ones who matter, the ones who might notice, will be sober.”

“We will have to wait for dawn then.When they are firmly asleep.” 

Sir Jiraiya’s nod was confirmation that this had been the plan all long.Kakashi let out a heavy sigh.He was a veteran of campaigns and raids.The grey light of dawn was an old friend.But it would not be easy, they would not have much time to execute the mission and the added light increased the chance of discovery.

But for Sakura…

He might tear Konoha itself apart.

* * *

Even with such short notice, the Great Hall had been transformed into the height of grandeur.The members of the court had put together their finest attire, ready to greet their king with solemn expressions.Kakashi himself had barely had the time to bathe after their long ride—he and Jiraiya had been embroiled in planning for hours. 

Kakashi would not relax until Tsunade was safely on the road with Jiraiya by her side but… he thought their plan was a good one.There would always be risks, but Kakashi had learned long ago to distinguish the risks that might pay off and those that he could not tolerate. 

For now, all he had to do was put on a brave face befitting his station.As Knight-Captain of the Guard, he wore the formal uniform that never left his closet.A dark, structured tunic decorated with silver embroidery of the seal of Konoha, coupled with a wolf-fur cloak that went with his title, was too cumbersome for anything but the fussiest of occasions.With every member of court gathered, each in their own cumbersome attire, his wardrobe blended in perfectly. 

There was one advantage to the ceremony.From his post, Kakashi was positioned to see the entire hall, giving him a map to all the ways in which Konoha had changed.It had been barely a month since his departure for Sunagakure, but somehow the court had become brittle like winter ice. 

Sasuke stood closest to the throne, in the position usually commanded by the king’s family or his most trusted advisors.For Sasuke to claim the position of honor, not Danzo, spoke volumes of the way the young man had ingratiated himself in court. 

This had a ripple effect on the other squires of Konoha, who had been year mates with the King and his traitorous Champion.Several of them flanked Sasuke, silently sending the message that they supported his position at court.Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi stood directly behind him, fanning out in a trio.That they stood united was not a surprise, they had been on the same squad as pages. That they wanted to show their support for Sasuke in some silent fashion struck him as an ill omen.Behind them, the sole member of the older squires, stood Neji Hyuga. The older squire’s expression was cold; as if he rebelled in some way by choosing Sasuke’s side of the hall. 

On the other side of the aisle stood Hinata Hyuga, his cousin.Her expression was fraught with concern, although that was not particularly unusual.The rest of her squad stood at her back.Kiba Inuzaka and his white hound seemed to cast disapproving glances directly at Sasuke.The rest of Neji’s former squad had abandoned him, to stand behind Hinata and Kiba.Rock Lee darted the occasional glance at Neji, as though he were disappointed with the other young man’s decision. 

This was dangerous.It was critical for Konoha’s survival that its knights stood united.Such division cast a long shadow on Konoha’s future.Tsunade’s arrest may have been the catalyst, but that should not have split them so evenly.If anything, it should have united them in fury against the old guard that ruled Konoha. 

Kakashi’s suspicion narrowed on Sasuke, the dark heart of the storm.What alliance had he called the squires into?To what end had he rallied this invisible web of alliances, cutting through the unity of Konoha as surely as if he had run a blade through it?

No, that was too harsh a charge for his old student.Sasuke had not done this alone.He had only exploited the weaknesses already there, the weaknesses that had been fostered by older, more foolish politicians who had been blind to the weakness in the foundation of the nation they had created.Kakashi could not blame one warrior for taking advantage of the cracks

Kakashi still remembered the day the Uchiha clan had been slaughtered, how the news had come from their lands to the east.The note had been bloodstained, as if nothing could escape the violence of that day.The official report had said that the heir to the family had gone mad, driven to violence by the power of his Sharingan. No one had been shocked at the news.Many whispered that the Uchiha line carried a curse in their blood, as payment for ancient sins.

As Knight-Captain of the guard, Kakashi had made it his mission to investigate every possible threat to the kingdom.He could not say if a curse truly ran through the blood of the young man before him, but that was irrelevant.Every three generations, death seemed to take the Uchiha clan.Somehow, only one member would be left standing; the rest either taken by accident, illness, or murder.Never before had one turned on all the others at once, but that was simply a new iteration of an old pattern. 

And it was not finished yet.Sasuke had long ago sworn to claim his brother’s life as revenge for the massacre.Kakashi suspected that whatever force had held Itachi back from killing his youngest brother would not last forever.

Itachi and Sasuke chained by blood and violence.It would only be a matter of who struck first.

The sound of trumpets, signaling the arrival of the king broke through his thoughts.Naruto emerged alone, dressed in the green and gold finery, a cape of pure white fur resting on his shoulders.For the briefest moment, his gaze flickered across the crowd, as if searching for something.Kakashi was just close enough to see the way his brow creased, as he failed to locate what he sought.

It was only at that moment that Kakashi realized that Sakura was not in attendance.

Blood roared in Kakashi’s ears at the realization.Another man might write the disappearance off, might assume that Sakura simply needed rest and time to mourn her mentor.But Kakashi had fought in many battles, honing his instincts to a fine point.Another young woman might take to her bed to weep, devastated by her kingdom and distraught at the loss of her old mentor. 

But not Sakura.Headstrong Sakura, who held sway over life itself, who could wield death against the Akatsuki itself, would never accept such a thing. And Kakashi had been a fool to expect her to.

Kakashi Hatake, Knight-Captain of the Royal Guard, only son of Lord Sakumo Hatake, the White Wolf of Konoha, knew the yoke of duty well.It was an old companion, a heavy comfort like the cape on his shoulders.Never before had it seemed to strangle him.Now it wrapped its way around his throat as he kept his spine straight as a spear, holding his post.

Even as he was desperate to run to Sakura’s side. 

Naruto took long confident strides down the Great Hall, his pace slightly faster than was technically considered ‘regal’.Perhaps he, too, could sense that something was amiss.Without much ceremony, he bowed on one knee before Sasuke.The Champion held up the golden circlet for the crowd’s inspection.As the Champion, it was his right to crown his liege, but Kakashi could not help but wonder if it would blight the beginning of Naruto’s reign. 

With more delicacy that Kakashi knew he could muster, Sasuke placed the crown on Naruto’s head, forever shaping his destiny.

Crowned, Naruto—no, _King_ Naruto—turned to receive the blessing of his kingdom.He drew the Forest Flame from its place at his hip, holding it above his head.The crowd roared its approval. 

Then, in a gesture Kakashi would forever wonder about, Sasuke kneeled.The rest of the crowd followed suit, waves of people dropping to one knee in respect for their monarch. 

Long may he serve them.

Even Kakashi dropped to one knee, his muscles aching from the need to _go,_ to find Sakura, to ensure her plan was a success.

To protect her.

As he rose, Kakashi’s first thought was that his muscles were stiff.Stiffer than they should have been, even after such a long ride.But the crowd before him moved equally slowly, as if when they had kneeled for Naruto they had each lost a part of their strength. 

Then, the black smoke appeared.Seeping under the doors that Naruto had emerged from, doors that opened into the courtyard and the outdoors.Struggling against his own body, Kakashi bolted, charging through the wooden doors and drawing his blade. Outside, a wave of heat and smoke assaulted him.It should have been too dark to see, but fire burned on the tiled roof of the castle, dark smoke choking the air and filling the courtyard. 

At last, he found what he sought: five figures approaching on foot.Each of them wore the dark livery of the Akatsuki, punctuated with red clouds as bright as a bloodstain.Four men and one woman, who stood in the center.She was their leader, although her expression burned with none of the ferocity of bloodlust and battle fury.Beside her, the men more than made up for it, their expressions lit with a hunger for violence.Among them, Kakashi only recognized one: Itachi Uchiha. 

It had taken only five members of the Akatsuki to breach the walls and set fire to the castle. 

They faced an impossible dilemma.The laws of Konoha dictated that none use sorcery, but without it, Kakashi had no doubt that the Akatsuki would overwhelm them.He could only hope that they could counter the attack with sheer numbers.Five fighters could not overwhelm the whole force of Konoha. 

He readied his blade, holding it before him in a parrying stance, ready to call the order to strike.In the flat of his blade, his reflection stared back at him; tired and defeated.Kakashi prayed his men would not read the hopelessness he saw in himself, and instead rise to the challenge without fear.

But before he could call out commands movement flitted behind him, reflected back at him on the blade.Above, on the walls, crouched Sakura.She wore dark clothes, perfect for stealth, and melting into shadows. Kakashi’s chest clenched.In a fight, they would offer no defense.A misplaced dagger could slide through her ribs too easily. Beside her was Tsunade.Even from a distance, Kakashi could see her imprisonment had taken its toll.Her blonde hair had lost some of its luster, and for the first time, he noticed lines of age on her face. 

_Go._ He wanted to shout. _Flee and don’t look back._

But as Kakashi’s gaze locked with Sakura’s, his heart sank at what he read there.She had risked execution to save Tsunade, but even without the Proving, she was a true knight of Konoha.

And she, too, felt the yoke of duty at her neck.


	16. xv. what gives it its greatest fury

xv. what gives it its greatest fury

The castle was burning.Sakura’s eyes welled with tears to ward off the harsh assault of the smoke.Heat pressed down on her from all sides, making seat prick at the base of her hairline and run down her back in rivulets.They could not remain in this position on the walls, exposed to witnesses that now streamed out of the great hall.Nor could they press forward.The flames blocked their path to the stables where Sakura had prepared two horses for their escape. 

She needed to gather her thoughts, to put together a plan, to get them out of there, but every turn she imagined slipped out of her fingers like the sands of the Sunagakure desert.For her focus had split.In one direction was the desperate need to get off the walls, to get Tsunade and herself to safety.But, from the courtyard below came a different call to action.The Akatsuki were advancing, with the languid, casual grace of a predator stalking defenseless prey.They did not care that the knights of Konoha were readying to mount an attack, nor did they care that they castle burned around them.And Sakura knew they were right not to be concerned.Two had been enough to overwhelm the forces of Sunagakure— a land where sorcery flowed like river water, and its knights were fully trained in its use. 

Here, where half the force had no such defense, and those that did had suppressed the abilities of their bloodlines, the Akatsuki would burn through them like the flames that tore a rampage through the castle.It would be a massacre. 

A lone figure at the center of the courtyard caught her attention.As she registered her identity, the breath caught in her lungs.Kakashi, dressed in the dark uniform of the guard, his sword drawn, stood ready to face the attack.Sakura’s knuckles went white where she clutched the stone side of the upper ramparts of the castle.He would _die_ here, and he would do it for a realm that would never appreciate him for what he truly was.

The moment Sakura had spotted Tsunade in the dungeons, had seen the toll imprisonment had taken on her, Sakura knew she couldn’t stay in Konoha.When she had first their horses, she had expected to get Tsunade to safety and then to return home.But when she saw the hollowed cheeks of her mentor, she knew Konoha could never truly be her home.Tsunade’s grey, dull hair, and the new lines that framed her eyes and mouth had been enough to fill Sakura with fury.But worse was the knowledge that if she remained in Konoha, it would also be her own fate. 

Konoha would make a knight of her, take whatever it could, and then imprison her for the sheer pleasure of it.It did not matter who sat on the throne.Konoha had not even done right by its own king.Instead of raising him with tutors and loving foster home, King Hiruzen had abandoned him to roam wild through the castle, the true nature of his father’s life and death a secret from him.And now Naruto had claimed the throne, content to allow others to manage the kingdom.

But, here on the ramparts, Sakura knew that she had been twice a fool.First, for thinking she could ever walk away from this place.It was her home, her origin point, the core at the center of her.And she had a responsibility to it, even if it would forsake her.

Second, for tethering herself to Kakashi, as surely as she had tethered herself to the realm.He was so close, just below her where she hid on the ramparts.It was as though an invisible chain dragged her down, and her bones ached for the strength it took to stay away.But she could not go to him, could not defend him, or else risk all that she had planned to rescue Tsunade.Fear burned through her as hot as any fire as she watched him advance towards the Akatsuki.He would do his duty, he would _die_ for duty, as surely as he had raced through the desert alone to rescue Gaara. 

And though Konoha would turn it’s back on her, Kakashi never would. 

She couldn’t ask Tsunade to stay.“We have to get to the stables,” Sakura said, her voice weak against the crackling thunder of the blaze.

But when she spared a glance at Tsunade, what she saw in her mentor’s gaze stopped her in her tracks.It was the narrowed gaze of a veteran strategist, weighing the battlefield before her and crafting a plan.

“We have an advantage,” Tsunade said, her voice hushed.“They won’t expect an attack from above, not with those fools rattling their swords down below.”She knew Tsunade meant Kakashi but did not argue with the assessment.It was strange.Here in the middle of a blazing fire, on the cusp of a bloodbath, Sakura relaxed.She trusted no one the way she trusted Tsunade—not even Kakashi.If her mentor thought there was a chance, if she did not think it better to flee, Sakura would not succumb to hopelessness. 

All around them, alarm bells sounded, calling for aid and water.Half of the guards below fled the scene, streaming out of the area like ants.Sakura could not tell where they ran: to stop the burning, to evacuate the staff, to prevent the fire from spreading.A thousand dangers lurked in one moment. 

“Danzo never should have held a coronation like this,” Tsunade spat.“He should have given time for people to come home.Most of the knights are out of the city, and look at what it’s earned him.”

On diplomatic missions, on patrol, in forgotten pockets of wilderness, hunting for the very specter that attacked them now.While the guard could handle the flames, they would be no match for the five figures, still readying their attack.Sakura could almost see the fear as it spread through the other squires.The massacres in the border villages and the attacks on the castle had increased the Akatsuki’s legend.They were more than mere bandits, plundering for pleasure.They had become a legendary threat, worth dispatching Konoha’s best fighters to hunt.

Tsunade gripped Sakura’s arm, dragging her from her position above Kakashi towards one of the many abandoned guard stations on the walls, fitted with bows and horns to sound the alarm.There was no time to wonder if they had been driven off by fire, or if the Akatsuki had infiltrated the castle long before this attack.Tsunade shoved a bow in Sakura’s hands.“On my signal, fire,” she said.“I’ll hold off the blaze.” 

Sakura gripped her bow, nocking it with an arrow and drawing the string, waiting for the signal

Smoke filled the air, choking off Sakura’s breath, and clouding her eyes. Tears welled up to ward off the assault but still Tsunade did not call the alarm.The flames burned, so close that Sakura could feel the heat of it licking her cheekbone, tousling her hair.But it did not char or burn.Tsunade’s magic held it at bay.

The flame became a pillar around them, igniting the other bows on the ramparts.Sakura’s fingers burned where they clutched the bowstring, but she did not move.Tsunade still did not give the signal.

The Akatsuki had not begun their assault, not properly.Instead, they seemed to be…

It looked as if the woman in the middle _spoke_ to Kakashi.Suddenly Sakura wished for nothing more than to know what she said, to see how Kakashi reacted.Her lover’s back was turned to her, his expression a mystery, and the woman stood too far to make out the words on her lips.

Still did Tsunade did not call the signal.Then, just as the woman shrugged, sparing Kakashi a smile full of chilled malice, Tsunade brought her mouth to Sakura’s ear.

“Choose your target,” she whispered, barely audible over the crackling flames around them.By this point, the smoke had filled the courtyard, concealing most of Konoha’s forces.Sakura narrowed her gaze onto the figure closest to her, a man with white hair slicked back like a helmet.He was close enough that she could make out his face: all cocky smile and ageless skin. 

“Fire,” Tsunade whispered, and Sakura let loose her bowstring.

The arrow caught fire as it passed through the flame.Sakura held her breath as she watched it arc through the air.It struck true, straight through the man’s head.He fell like a stone.

Before Sakura could celebrate her victory, Tsunade grabbed her hand, pulling her through the flames,dragging her until they were leaping through the fire and collapsing wall to land in the courtyard below.At the last minute, Sakura rolled, landing harmlessly.Here, at ground level, it was suddenly chaos.It seemed her arrow had also been a signal for the Konoha forces. People ran in a dozen directions, shouting with battle fury as they struck at the encroaching members of the Akatsuki. 

In the smoke, she could barely make out silhouettes of attackers.From above the Akatsuki had only been five, but in the chaos, there seemed to be more.Butterflies of paper fluttered through the air, catching flame and spreading the blaze further.Screams of the injured cried out as the Akatsuki force begun their bloody work.

“We have to get the fire out,” Sakura called out to Tsunade. It would be impossible to get a firefighting force here as long as the battle raged below.Without it, however, the blaze would rampage unchecked. 

“Leave it to me,” Tsunade replied through gritted teeth.“You help the fighters.” 

There was no room for unease on a battlefield.Sakura did not hesitate as she stepped forward, trusting Tsunade to handle the flames.Her mentor had deep wells of magic to draw upon, power that Sakura could only dream of, and she would not let the castle burn.

Bow in hand, she plunged into the smoke, towards the most urgent of the shouts.She would not be much use in the battlefield with only a bow, but she could assist the wounded.She could heal.

Still, her heartbeat with a pounding urgency.It called for Kakashi, demanded she find him in the violence.But a true knight could not listen to the whims of her heart.A true knight bowed to the call of duty and logic, even as every nerve in her body screamed to find the Knight-Captain of the Guard. 

A figure rose out of the smoke to block her path.It was the man she had shot, risen from the dead.Her arrow was still embedded in his skull.It had entered cleanly above his left ear, only to emerge on the other side, tipped with blood and brain matter.Another impossible wonder; but as Sakura faced more of Akatsuki she was growing used to such things.After her battle with Sasori, she should have known a mere arrow would not be enough to fell a member of the Akatsuki. 

If he felt any pain, the man did not show it. He did not seem to fear any wound, having come to battle without a scrap of armor.Instead, he wore a white shirt and tight-fitting black hose, with nothing to mark him as a member of the Akatsuki but a scrap of red and black fabric hanging from his left shoulder like a cape.His shirt hung half-open, as if to greet a lover in the bed-chamber, not an approaching army.

The man leered down at Sakura, greedily drinking in the sight of the bow in her hands. “Who knew a small thing like you could be such a good shot.”

“Not so good, if I missed the part of your brain that lets you speak,” she snarled.Rather than take offense, the man roared with laughter.“You will make a fine offering for Jashin,” he said, summoning a massive scythe from somewhere on his person.“When you die, tell him Hidan sent you.I could use the god’s favor.”

She was not dressed for a proper confrontation.If his blade so much as swiped her, it would slice through the thin cloth of her tunic to tear through muscle and sinew. 

“Are you afraid, little rabbit?” Hidan asked, his voice a low purr.His eyes scanned her as if he was drinking in the sight of Sakura’s tensed muscled.The look in his gaze told her all that she needed to know: this was a man who relished violence.And he would relish a chase.

She could lead him away.If she couldn’t reduce the Akatsuki’s number with her bow, she could at least lure one away.Here was a chance at victory.They could divide the force and prevent them from mounting a proper assault. 

Sakura braced herself to run, tracking the best path out of the courtyard and into the stone labyrinth of the castle interior.It would be a close thing.If Sakura made her way too slowly, she would be killed.But if her pace was too quick, the man might not pursue.She could not risk him turning his attention to easier game.

Hidan approached, one achingly slow step after another, his scythe readied. 

“Terrified,” she retorted as soon as he was within swinging distance.He lifted the blade, but Sakura was moving, racing past him into the smoke. 

Her gamble worked.Hidan’s grin stretched wide, revealing too much of his straight white teeth.He pursued, into the smokey chaos of noise. 

But it had been a fool's gambit.For such a large man, he was fast, his long legs giving him the advantage over her, even as Sakura drew upon her well of power to enhance her speed and guide her steps.Still, she ran, trusting her instincts to guide her to the halls of the castle where she could control the battlefield and gain an advantage.

The fighting around her was too fierce.If she had been running to flee, it would have been a simple matter of disappearing into the cacophony of the battle and away into the night. With the man on her tail, she did not dare lose him.But at every turn, the smoke and clash of blades blocked her path.The first time her path bent, Sakura believed she could still turn this around.As she made the second, curving her path to avoid a fight between Rock Lee, Neji, and a member of the Akatsuki who wielded a massive broadsword, her blood froze.

She was out of ground.She had to brace herself to stop a full collision against the base of the ramparts.She had run herself into a corner.Stone walls boxed her in on either side, blocking any hope for escape. 

Slowly she turned to see hidden had caught up with her.He had slowed his pace to a walk, confident in the hunt.Hidan’s tongue flicked across his upper, licking away a trail of blood from the arrow wound in his skull.Sakura’s grip tightened on her bow—it was useless here in close quarters.The time it would take to nock and draw was precious seconds. Seconds that she could not afford.

In the distance, she could hear the cries of the injured.Alarm bells filled the air and everywhere smoked blocked her view.Five fighters had done this.Five members of the Akatsuki had turned Konoha’s stronghold into a killing field.

“Nowhere to run now, little rabbit,” Hidan said, lifting his scythe with killing intent.His open tunic exposed the thick cords of his muscular neck.Her wards would not be enough to block this strike.

Sakura did not turn her gaze from him, nor did she allow her fear to show on her face.She would not give him that pleasure.Instead, she focused on the blade that would be her death, the red steel glinting with the flames of the burning castle.

It did not come back down.Hidan’s face was a portrait of rage and confusion.She could see the way his biceps corded and tensed, struggling desperately against an invisible bond. 

“ _Move,_ forehead,” A high feminine voice called.Sakura did as she was told, diving through the space between Hidan and the wall.Ino stood behind the Akatsuki member, her blonde hair falling out of its high ponytail, and dirt and ash smudged her lovely face. 

Beside her, Shikamaru stood braced, his hands clasped at his chest.She could feel the power radiating off of him, as he did _something_ to freeze Hidan in place. 

“We’ll handle him,” Ino said, drawing a blade.Of that, Sakura had no doubt.The icy look in her friend’s blue eyes told a story of bloodshed and fury.If Shikamaru could hold Hidan long enough, Ino would hack him to pieces.“Go find yourself a weapon,” Ino said with a final glance over her shoulder.“And stay alive.”

Sakura intended to do just that.

She tore into the fray, desperately scanning for something more useful than a bow.It did not take long before she found what she sought: a sword abandoned on the stones of the courtyard floor.Sakura did not allow herself to consider whose it might have been.Who might have died so that she could be armed? 

Sakura lofted the blade before her, the familiar grip of the steel quelling the terror in her heart.The smoke had begun to clear; either through Tsunade’s efforts or the guard’s attempts to mobilize a firefighting force.

Slowly she could make out figures in the battle, each locked in personal battles.

A shirtless man, with grotesque masks stitched into the skin of his back, facing down against Neji, Rock Lee, and Ten Ten. 

Naruto and Sasuke, back to back, each facing down their own enemy.Naruto was locked in combat with the man with the massive broad sword.Sasuke snarled a challenge at an Akatsuki member with dark hair and the piercing red eyes of the Sharingan.The sight caught in Sakura’s throat— it was too familiar, to see them fighting side by side, as they had as pages.For a moment, she wanted to join them, old grudges and fresh hurts thrown to the wayside. 

But it would be pointless: the King and his Champion did not need her.Together, they fought in lockstep, their movements a dance, as though it had always been just the two of them against an entire world. 

Sakura turned her gaze away, tucking away the surprise burn of her heart.It could be examined later when lives were not at stake.

That left the woman, the leader of the Akatsuki attackers.Sakura could see her in the center of things, attacking like an avenging angel.She had summoned wings of paper that lifted her above just above the muck of the battlefield.They were made of thick reams of the stuff, both transportation and shield, and releasing paper butterflies at random.The scraps of fluttering paper wings lit into the air, catching flame and adding kindling to the destruction.Her face impassive, she twirled a paper-white spear above her head, cutting through attackers.

Sakura’s heart seized when she saw the woman’s target.Shino, his leg bloodied, tried to pull Hinata away from the fighting.Kiba and his white hound, Akamaru stood before her, roaring a challenge. 

With a whistle, the woman’s spear came down, slicing into Kiba’s shoulder. It hung limply at his side, useless now. 

The woman raised her spear again, ready to strike the killing blow. 

Sakura stepped forward, her borrowed sword glinting in the flames.She pulled her magic around her, creating a thin layer of protection.

“I’m your real enemy,” she shouted, drawing the woman’s attention away from her targets.With the grace of a stained-glass angel, the woman turned her impassive expression on Sakura. 

“Interesting,” was all she said, taking in the younger woman as a doctor might examine a patient. 

“I could say the same,” Sakura retorted back.Desperately she scanned for an advantage.Unlike Sasori of the desert, the woman seemed to possess no hidden scorpion tail, nor an undead army at her command.Just endless sheets of paper. 

The woman swung first, dispassionate and graceful.Her red eyes glimmered with condescension, as though Sakura was nothing but an insect to be eliminated.The strike was a perfect arc, with a level of technique Sakura would envy if she had not been its target.

But Sakura blocked, the strike’s perfection making it familiar.This woman moved as though trained by a knight of Konoha. It was only her speed and precision that elevated her above the other fighters in the courtyard.But Sakura was not like the others.She drew from the power Tsunade had trained into her, increasing her own strength and speed, giving herself just enough advantage to keep up with the more experienced fighter.

“You are skilled,” the woman said, sudden amusement flickering in her red eyes.“Someone has trained you well.But it won’t save you.”

“Your friend Sasori said the same thing,” Sakura retorted.“It didn’t work out so well for him.”

A smile glimmered across her opponent’s face, even as she readied her spear for another attack.“I am not as arrogant as he.His end was justly deserved.”

Sakura seized that moment to launch an attack, a complicated formation of arching blows that required hours of practice to perfect.In her hands, it was sloppy but sufficient.It bit into the other woman’s side, tearing at the black fabric of her tunic, and revealing the chainmail beneath.

Sakura’s heart jumped to see the metal armor. Unlike Sasori or the apparently immortal Hidan, this woman was mortal and would bleed like one.Sakura lobbied another attack, this time only to be rebuffed by a shield of paper. 

Strike.Block.Strike.Block. 

It went on for too long.Sakura could feel herself tiring under the strain of the magic burning through her.When was the last time she had eaten?Slept?It suddenly seemed an eternity, as she traded blows with an opponent that did not tire.

“No one should have this much power.” A familiar voice said.Tsunade stepped to Sakura’s side, burning with heat.Her mentor was a new woman.Gone was the hollowed cheeks and grey hair.Tsunade looked as though she had absorbed the flames of the castle, as though coals burned within her skin.Sparks flickered off of her, and her eyes glimmered with searing determination. 

“They’re all like this,” Sakura said.“It’s like they have access to a reserve of power we don’t.She should have burned herself out with all this magic; they all should have.”

“So we’ll just have to burn her out instead,” Tsunade said, drawing a sword.

If the Akatsuki woman was precision and grace, Tsunade was a wildfire.Sakura could barely make out her movements, they were so quick.Sakura’s only mission was to stay out of her way and ensure no one interfered with the battle. 

It gave her the time to take stock of the field.The smoke had finally dispersed and with it the flames.It was as though Tsunade had taken the entire blaze into her skin. 

Sasuke and Naruto were beginning to repel the fighters in their grasp.An orange glow had taken over Naruto’s blade, and the man with the broadsword narrowly avoided taking a blow through his stomach.Sasuke still traded blows with the other Uchiha, but he seemed to be gaining ground.

Neji and his cohort had not been so lucky.The man with the masks stitched into his back leaned over an injured Rock Lee, his grin wide and feral.He seemed to be stitched together, as though some mad artisan had made a monster for the sole purpose of killing.At his feet, Rock Lee struggled but was still alive.Ten Ten’s eyes were closed, but the rise and fall of her chest said she was still alive.Neji was nowhere to be seen.

What _were_ the Akatsuki, truly?Their power had to come from some source, some endless battery that gave them such abilities.No one, not even Tsunade, could manage the feats she saw now—the violence they meted out as though it were some parlor trick. 

The stitched-together man turned his feral grin on Sakura.

She could not let him interfere with Tsunade’s battle. 

Raising her sword in challenge, Sakura took a fighting stance, her back to Tsunade.The dark-haired man approached, crouched as if ready to run on all fours. 

Sakura held her line. 

He had no weapons, but Sakura doubted he needed them.There was no concern in his gaze as he approached.The moment he entered striking range, Sakura struck with her blade.

He caught it.Gripping the sword with his bare hand, blood welling in his palms, he pulled.His strength was more than Sakura could match.He pulled until her shoulder seemed to wrench from her socket and she had no choice but to let go.

A voice cut through the battlefield, amplified by magic.“We go.”The voice was high and feminine, loud enough to reach every corner of the courtyard.Even Sakura’s attacker hesitated at the reverberation.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura could see Sasuke’s opponent grab his partner and disappear into a cloud of ravens.On her other side, the woman seemed to be half in flames.Sakura would never know how she still flew while one of her paper wings had become mangled and scorched. 

“One more,” Sakura’s opponent said with a gloating laugh, reaching for Sakura’s chest, as though he meant to tear her heart from her ribcage.He wrapped a massive hand around her throat, bringing her to him in a mockery of a lover’s embrace.

For the second time that night, she was defenseless.There was no time to stop the incoming blow.Sakura had the wild, furious thought that she had survived her fight with Sasori, had made it to this final retreat, and for what?

To die like a dog, one final victim of a senseless slaughter. 

As the air was choked from her, Sakura had time to be grateful that she had made the most of the journey home.That in the end, she had the memories of Kakashi’s warm arms, the stubble of his cheek, the softness of his lips. 

Every muscle in Sakura’s body fired, tensing as the monster’s other hand came down to grip her chest, to rend her flesh and tear out her heart.This time, she shut her eyes, unable to face her death. 

But death did not come. 

The grip on Sakura’s throat slackened, freeing her breath.Sakura’s eyes flew open at the shock of it.Tsunade had stopped the attack.She gripped the monster’s forearm, holding him in check.Heat radiated off of her, impossibly so, as if she contained a wildfire within.Tongues of flame licked from her aura, in a halo of fire.

Tsunade stared down the monster, her lip curled in a look of disgust.Sakura almost laughed at the familiarity of it; it was the look her mentor wore to complain about Danzo, to mock the fussy council of elders that made her job such tedium. 

The blaze spread from Tsunade, taking hold of the monster.His eyes widened in agony and his mouth opened in a primal scream, but no sound choked out of his throat.He was burning. Where his flesh had been stitched together singed curled, and the smell of cooking meat overwhelmed Sakura’s senses. 

But Tsunade did not relent, burning through them both with the ferocity of a late summer forest fire.

Too late, Sakura realized what was happening.Tsunade would not release the Akatsuki’s monster, not even if it claimed her life.Tsunade’s hair lost its luster, and her skin slackened, showing the signs of age that the regent took such great pains to hide.

She had to stop this.Sakura tried to lunge into the fray, to pull her mentor from the burning monster, but strong arms suddenly trapped her in place. 

“Let me go,” she snarled, trying to kick out of the grasp.She knocked her head backward.She had hoped to strike a face, to break cartilage or shatter the teeth of whoever dared to get in her way. Her blow landed harmlessly against Kakashi’s chest.Above her, his face was grave, and he did not look down at Sakura.Kakashi’s grey eye was locked on the scene before them—where Tsunade burned through the last of her power.

In one final, glorious inferno, Tsunade burned her enemy into ash.It was as if the magic had taken over, drawing itself from Tsunade’s skin, claiming them both as kindling.The monster’s flesh flicked away like ash, and his bones crumbled in the heat.When there was nothing left to hold on to, Tsunade finally released her grasp. 

Her chest collapsing in on itself, Sakura could only watch as her mentor fell to her knees.The color had left her cheeks, and her blonde hair had turned a dark, chalky grey.“Good job,” Tsunade said, granting Sakura one final look.Then, she closed her eyes, every spark of animation gone. 

Tsunade Senju, the last descendant of King Hiruzen, had served Konoha faithfully.She had fought for the realm as a knight, then led as it’s regent.And now, even after the realm had turned its back on her, she had died for it. 


	17. xvi. against all the evil in the world

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for all your kind comments!!!! I love writing battle scenes but this is not a battle scene because unfortunately if I strung together battle after battle nothing would make sense.
> 
> I also love writing kissing scenes but kissing scenes must also be earned by pining, so this is also not a kissing scene. 
> 
> I hope you enjooooooooooooy politics.

xvi. against all the evil in the world

Kakashi held Sakura until he was sure the blaze would not claim her.Until he was sure that she would not fling herself into Tsunade’s funeral pyre and burn herself into ash.She thrashed against him, but Kakashi’s muscles locked into place to hold her in position, to keep her safely pressed against him. 

Her loss would be too much to bear.

One thought pounded in his skull, over and over again.H _ow had it come to this?_

The castle burned.The regent was dead.His former student—his lover— was trapped in his arms, screaming her fury and grief.Somehow, things had spiraled utterly out of control.Even in the darkest days of King Hiruzen’s reign, when Naruto had been a spit of a boy and war had lurked around every corner, it had never come to this.The castle had always been safe.

No longer.

When the flames finally quelled, Kakashi released Sakura.She ran from him, to kneel by her mentor’s side, to clutch her hand and beg her to get up.The cold air against his chest, where she had been pressed so firmly only moments before, felt like diving into a winter stream.

Tsunade would never rise again.Kakashi knew it as surely as he knew the sun would rise in the morning, oblivious to the tragedy it shined down upon. 

The sound of hoofbeats filled the courtyard, echoing on the flagstones.Warring against exhaustion, Kakashi braced himself for yet another complication.Men on horseback filled the courtyard.Each of them wore a dark brown uniform, with the seal of Konoha embroidered in green threat at their breast.It was a uniform for forest battles and camouflage.

Danzo rode at their head, still wearing the finery of the coronation.The soldiers (for they could be nothing else) bristled with weaponry, but they had come _too late._ Kakashi wanted to order them out of the courtyard, furious at this latest performance. It was a ridiculous sight.Had Danzo imagined he would ride into a battle, ready to save the day and appear the triumphant hero?Kakashi had learned long ago that heroism was nothing but being in the right place at the right time, with blood in your teeth and your comrades dead at your feet.Danzo Shimura did not have the mettle for such a thing. 

In his greatest feat of strength that night, Kakashi held his tongue. 

“The attacker’s escaped.”Danzo’s statement was an accusation more than a question. The most Kakashi could muster in response was a grunt of disapproval, as he ran one ash streaked hand through his silver hair.How dare this man arrive so late, backed by a fighting force of strangers, to hurl accusations at those that had battled and lost that night?

Because this had been a loss, as surely as any battle he had seen.Certainly, the attackers had been repelled, but it had come at too high a price. The best hope for Konoha’s future, it’s young warriors, nursed injuries on the sidelines.Several members of the guard laid dead.And in the middle of it all, Tsunade had fallen. Konoha had lost their regent.They had lost the only thing holding the realm together.

No, Kakashi realized, as he took in Danzo’s weathered, scowling face.They had lost her days, weeks ago.They had lost her the moment this man had decided to imprison her. 

“Perhaps they would not have escaped, had we been fully armed,”Kakashi said, gesturing at the fighting force. _Root,_ some distant part of him remembered.They were Danzo’s long-rumored secret mercenary troupe. Kakashi had heard whispers of it amongst the other members of the guard.Several of them had even claimed to have turned down offers of recruitment.They said Danzo had demanded personal loyalty, offering gold and titles in exchange. 

“I would think the Guard should have been sufficient for such a battle,” Danzo replied, his tone haughty and loud enough for the only courtyard to hear.“A proper Knight-Captain would not have allowed his men to be overwhelmed by a mere force of _five_.” 

_Ah_. Kakashi realized. _He is trying to humiliate me._ That realization finally unleashed the temper Kakashi had worked so hard to leash.Tsunade would have ordered Kakashi to stand down, to bear the insult and move on.She would have laughed with him later, as they shared battlefield stories over whiskey.

But Tsunade was gone.It was Kakashi’s responsibility to handle this situation as he saw fit. 

He did not see fit to tolerate the insult. 

“Perhaps,” Kakashi called, equally as loud, “but you have never made it a secret that you do not approve of me.In fact, you’ve made your misgivings about my position obvious since the day I was appointed. It seems you have many fine fighters at your disposal.A proper counselor would have done his duty for the realm in the face of my clear shortcomings.It was, after all our new king’s coronation.Anyone would have known such an event would attract attention.With so many men at your disposal, it would have been an easy feat. ”

Danzo scowled at him, unused to such a challenge.He opened his mouth to speak, but Kakashi was not done. 

“It is also no secret that you do not approve of our new king.”

He let the insinuation settle, heavy and damning.With Tsunade’s support gone, Kakashi did not have enough allies in this new court to accuse Danzo of treason outright. That would not stop him from sowing the seeds of suspicion. 

“What are you implying?’ Danzo hissed, not content to let Kakashi slide by with hints and veiled accusations.It was a clever strategy on Danzo’s part: he would give Kakashi a long rope with which to hang himself.Tsunade would be clutching his arm now, ordering him to back off before he pushed this too far.

But Kakashi’s blood still roared with battle song. 

“That It’s almost as if you did not care to see Konoha properly defendedHere you are with your own fighting force, ready to mete out justice.Well, you are _too late._ Your chance to play hero is gone.You missed it when you didn’t man the walls and arm your people, and you missed it when you hid through the battle.Or did you hope to find us all slaughtered, the castle ripe for your taking?” 

Danzo’s craggy face turned several shades of purple as Kakashi stared him down.

He had spent the battle evacuating staff and civilians.He had seen the meager numbers of the guardsman on the castle walls.If he had been in Konoha for the planning of such an event, he would have tripled the staff.Not shorted them.If Danzo pressed him, Kakashi would happily present his evidence. 

Hells, Kakashi would challenge him to trial by combat.

There was no council here to refute the claims, no trial to offer sentencing. There was nothing to gain from this confrontation but badly needed catharsis.

Behind him, the head of Danzo’s force shifted uncomfortably in his seat.It was Sai, the fighter that had faced down Sakura in the tournament that seemed ancient history now.He was the only of the men—for Danzo’s force was all men—who showed a single shred of emotion.The rest stared down at the scene, their faces as unmoving as stone.Each of them surveyed the courtyard with the look af a hardened warrior, assessing a threat. 

That awareness worried Kakashi.It meant they had not sworn their vows to the kingdom, not truly.He suspected they had sworn them directly to Danzo.

And now Kakashi had accused their leader of treason outright.It occurred to him, far too late, that for all his bravado and fury, he was vastly outnumbered.

“You always were too close to that witch,” Danzo hissed, dismounting from his horse.

“Enough!”Sakura’s voice cut through the tension.She had finally left Tsunade’s side to stand between Danzo and Kakashi.Her arms were outstretched and her grip still clung to her sword.“That _witch_ saved my life.That _witch_ saved your kingdom.And that _witch_ deserves more respect than you ever will.”Kakashi could feel the venom pouring from Sakura’s lips.Danzo had marked Sakura an enemy months ago, but if he did not stop this soon, she would draw the full brunt of his fury.

But she was relentless; uncaring that with every word she painted a target on her breast.

She pointed her blade at Danzo’s throat, taking a battle stance.“If you wish to accuse Tsunade of _anything,_ I challenge you.I challenge you to a duel now, before all of Konoha.”

Silence hung in the courtyard, as though every soul in Konoha waited to see how Danzo would react.Such a duel was unthinkable.Danzo was a seventy-year-old man and a lifelong servant of the realm.Sakura would win herself no allies in this course of action.Yet admiration filled Kakashi.

Despite the pride growing in his chest, Kakashi stepped forward to stop this. Grief made a person do the unthinkable, and it was his duty to make sure she did not damn herself completely.“Stand down,” he said, his voice a low murmur for only her ears.“Tsunade wouldn’t want this.”

“Tsunade isn’t _here,”_ Sakura snarled, her green eyes welling with tears.The sight pulled the breath from his lungs.How had she echoed his thoughts exactly? 

“I’m here,” Kakashi said.“And I won’t let you make this enemy.Not here, not when you can’t win like this.”

Sakura’s eyes grew wide with shock and fury, and Kakashi knew then that he had miscalculated. 

“This is how you repay Tsunade?”She hissed, venom in every syllable.“By letting _that man_ besmirch her memory?” 

Kakashi drew Sakura to his chest and brought his lips to her ear.It didn’t matter who saw their closeness; these were words meant just for her.“You are Tsunade’s legacy.And she wouldn’t want to see you fight a losing battle. Not like this.Not when we can win if we give it time.” 

She collapsed against him, her shoulders heaving with sobs.He held her there for a long moment, letting her cry against him. 

“You need to rest.As does Konoha,” he tried again, appealing to her sense of duty.“There will be new wars to wage come morning. 

Her face streaked with tears, Sakura stepped away from him.He wanted to kiss the tears off her cheeks, to run his fingers through her hair, to whisk her away somewhere soft and warm, and _make_ this better.

Before he could do just that, Sasuke appeared out of nowhere.“I’ll take her,” he said.“You have work that needs doing.”

The Champion gestured to the rebuilding efforts around him, led by members of his own guard.Before he could protest Sakura stepped forward to Sasuke’s side, her green eyes haunted by resignation.

“Duty comes before all, doesn’t it,” she said, her voice flickering with distrust. Without waiting for a reply, she turned her back on him.He was speechless to see Sakura, his wildcat, his burning flame, leave so meekly at Sasuke’s side. 

That he had lost her trust was a knife through his chest. 

But he had earned that distrust, hadn’t he?Didn’t he deserve it for what he had done?He had held her back as Tsunade burned.He had left her to devise her own rescue, had left her ignorant to his own plans. 

And now both there attempts had failed. 

But that was not where Kakashi’s list of crimes ended.He had earned her distrust that day in the river.He had earned it when he had first traced his hand along the contours of light along her cheek.And he had earned it when he had left her to die in the desert.

And he earned it now, as he watched Sasuke lead Sakura somewhere safe to grieve.Sasuke put a hand on her shoulder, as any comrade might. 

The insistent ache of jealousy was as damning as any of Kakashi’s sins.

The kingdom called.Tsunade was dead, and Naruto unprepared to lead.He could not chase after Sakura to assuage his own guilt.Damn her, she had been right.Konoha needed him. 

Danzo stood to the side, watching Sakura’s retreating back with heavy consideration.If he so much as touched her, Kakashi would rip his head off. 

“Shall we go back to our previous discussion,” Danzo asked, turning on Kakashi.“I believe you were accusing me of treason.” 

Now, every member of Danzo’s private army turned their face on Kakashi.These were hardened warrior, assessing a threat.If Danzo gave the order, Kakashi had no doubt they would arrest him without question. _Let Danzo arrest him._ It would only add strength to his words.

Words that were for the benefit of the squires who picked themselves up from the battlefield. They would be Konoha’s future someday. 

And his words were for the king.Naruto stood to the side, surveying the conflict between his two advisors.Kakashi ardently hoped that he could see what Kakashi saw. 

Because it was as clear as daylight that Danzo was a threat. A private army in the hands of a man like Danzo could be used to further his agenda on the Council.It was possible he could even push the realm to the brink by staging a coup. 

Movement shifted behind Kakakashi.Without his realizing, Izumo and Kotetsu had appeared, wearing the dark uniform of the guard and faces streaked with ash.Beyond was Kurenai, exhausted and bloody but clutching a spear before her and ready for a fight.

Perhaps Danzo was not the only one guilty of diverting loyalty from the king. 

“Sir, I have compiled the report of the casualties for you,”Izumo said, cutting through the tension.“The number is less than it could have been.However, the guards on the city walls…” He shifted uncomfortably on his feet.“They were found with their throats slit.” 

Kakashi’s heart sank.It was what he had expected, but it did not mean the news was welcome.Any loss amongst the guard pained him.Worse, it meant they would be short staffed in future shifts.

A throat-slitting was quiet work, and difficult to pull off without inside knowledge of the castle.Had it been Itachi Uchiha, back to finish his bloody work?Or, Kakashi wondered, glancing out of the corner of his eye, had it been Danzo himself? 

No, that thought was laughable.Not for Danzo’s lack of loyalty, but for the fact that his fighting force had arrived too late.If he had been part of the attack, he would have also been ready to launch his men into action, to claim the role of hero for himself.

“If you would like to help Lord Danzo make himself useful,” Kakashi announced loudly, a cruel note in the timbre of his voice, “you could show his men to where they can do the most good.”A crash punctuated Kakashi’s words.The sound of wood caving in on itself, where the flames had damaged the castle too greatly. 

“It sounds like there is construction work to be done,” he finished, with a wicked smile beneath his mask.

Danzo barked an order, hopefully, to make his men do just that.Kakashi had not joked— it would be a great deal of work to restore the castle into something habitable.Danzo’s men were fresh, unlike the guard, and would be able to throw themselves into the work immediately.

Sai lingered a moment longer than the rest of the force.He did not dismount his dark chestnut horse as he took a lingering survey of Kakashi and his guards.Despite the fact that his face was normally meant for condescending smiles, it seemed to slacken.

Perhaps that was all the regret he was capable of. 

He turned his dark eyes on the Knight-Captain.Something he saw in Kakashi’s glare must have spurred him to action, for he spoke at last. 

“I am sorry for the Regent’s death.She should not have died in such a way.”The words seemed to surprise Sai as much as they did Kakashi.

“Were you hoping for a public execution?”The snarling accusation was out of his mouth before he could stop it. 

“Perhaps I deserved that,” Sai said, shaking his head.“No.She should not have died at all.” 

Before Kakashi could press him further, Sai kicked his horse into motion, following after the train of Danzo’s men as they disappeared into the rubble of the castle. 

Kakashi did not have time to puzzle after Sai.He had spoken true, there was work to be done. 

As Kakashi surveyed the courtyard, he saw members of the guard helping everywhere.The confrontation over, Kurenai had peeled off to help bandage the wounded Kiba.Kotetsu, climbed the walls to pick good wood from the still smoking rooftops.As Kakashi walked by, other members of the guard saluted him and called their approval for having survived the battle.Weariness cut Kakashi to the bone, as he could only imagine it did for each of those that had traveled with him.No one would have expected them to dive so readily into the rebuilding efforts, but here they each were.Joking, teasing, working, and most of all, reveling in being _alive._

Izumo shadowed Kakashi as he surveyed the damage.At first, Kakashi thought nothing of it, but then it seemed to linger purposely.As they surveyed the recovery efforts Izumo noted aloud the work that would need to be done. He pointed out places that the injured could be taken to safety, spots where the walls would need extra supports but still, he did not peel off to join the efforts.

“Something troubles you,” Kakashi said finally, once he was sure they were out of range of eavesdroppers.

“There is something you need to see.Something…better kept discreet.” 

* * *

In a transformed broom closet, Ino sprawled out on an uncomfortable wooden chair, bloody and exhausted.She took a long drink from her water flask, then wiped her mouth rudely across her sleeve.It was never how a squire should behave before their commanding officer.Although Ino did not directly report to Kakashi, he outranked her by several orders of magnitude.The least she could have done was stood at attention upon his arrival.But, in the aftermath of the battle, Kakashi supposed allowances could be made.Especially if Ino had done as Izumo reported, what few had managed before her: brought down a member of the Akatsuki. 

“Report,” Kakashi ordered. There were no windows and Izumo and Kotetsu stood at the door to ensure no one would overhear.

“I took down the Akatsuki member known as Hidan,” Ino said with a languorous stretch.“With Shikamaru’s help, naturally.”

“Naturally,” Kakashi replied when she took a moment to yawn. 

“And rightfully, that should be where my report ends.”She took another meaningful pause, drawing the story out for dramatic effect.

“Rightfully,” Kakashi said, when she did not continue.He was beginning to lose his patience.When this was over, he would have to speak to Iruka about teaching the squire to put together a proper report.He would never allow such a winding narrative from a member of the Guard. 

“But,” Ino preened.“It seems the Akatsuki are harder to kill than normal people.Some might even say _impossible_ to kill.”It would be a more impressive suggestion if Kakashi had not already done just that, but he did not want to steal her thunder.She was clearly working up to something compelling here. 

Ino produced a canvas bag from beneath her chair, the bottom of which had become soggy with something that looked suspiciously like blood.Gingerly, she reached a hand in the bag, keeping it far from her body as though she expected its contents to bite.

Then, with a flourish, Ino produced a severed head.She grasped it by its silver hair, and lofted it forward for Kakashi’s inspection. Its eyes were closed and it’s skin waxy, and it dribbled blood from its neck, much like every other severed head Kakashi had seen.Fortunately, it had not begun to reek yet, but it would not be long before rot set in. 

“You kept a severed head,” Kakashi said flatly.He had forgotten what it was like to work with the squires.There was a saying in the Guard: never let a squire near anything you wanted to impress or intimidate. They had a way of mucking up any affair. Sakura was always calm, but the majority of them were so untested no one could guess how their first battle would affect them.It seemed Ino was not taking to battle well. 

“Not just any severed head,” Ino insisted, shaking the head slightly as if to produce some action.The head remained stubbornly dead.She shook it again, this time harder.Just as Kakashi was about to suggest that Ino speak to someone about the trauma of battle and coping mechanisms, the head’s mouth contorted into a grimace.

“Enough already,” it said.“What do you want from me, a conversation?” 

If Kakashi were a lesser man, he would have jumped back in shock.Even as battle-hardened as Kakashi was, he had to suppress the urge to yell in surprise.Decapitation was a tried and true method for death-dealing.But here was a member of the Akatsuki, with no heart to pump blood, nor lungs to breathe air, but still speaking, and scowling, and most of all, _living._

“This is Hidan,” Ino said, jiggling the head.“Hidan, Kakashi.Kakashi, Hidan.Now that we are all introduced, we can get to more important things.” 

Kakashi _definitely_ needed to discuss the squires’ etiquette training with Iruka. 

Despite his irritation, he was impressed. Somehow, Ino had captured an Akatsuki member alive (although likely on accident). Too long the Akatsuki had run unchecked through the kingdoms, wreaking havoc and massacring civilians. This was a boon for the kingdom.Captives were as good as gold, and for an enemy as illusive as the Akatsuki, truly invaluable.

“May I?” Kakashi asked, extending a hand to take the head.In a move that challenged all of Kakashi’s goodwill towards Ino, she literally tossed the head at him. Battle-honed reflexes were the only thing that kept him from dropping it on the floor. 

“You should have a talk with her about how to treat guests,” Hidan said before Kakashi could begin his line of questioning.“Throwing me around is no way to get a man to talk.” 

“Awfully bold to think you’ll have a choice.”Kakashi’s voice was a low growl.

“Awfully hard to torture a severed head,” Hidan replied snippily. 

“You have teeth,” Kakashi said, lifting the head to his eye level.“And I can have them removed one by one if I desire.And _if_ they grow back, I can just start the whole process over again.” 

Hidan scowled at Kakashi but seemed to have little to say in response to his threat.

Kakashi shook the head again.“What are you people after?Why kill so many?” 

“I would call our body count rather low, wouldn’t you?”Hidan’s voice was a mocking, conversational tone. As though he were the one leading the inquisition. 

Kakashi would relieve him of _that_ notion.He shook the head again.

This conversation was lasting far too long.He was exhausted, bone-deep.Tsunade was dead, Sakura devastated, and the castle was burned.And for what?Unbidden, memories of the village he and Sakura had buried came to him.They had spent the night ensuring that the bodies of the dead received proper entombment.What could the Akatsuki get out of such carnage?

“Whole villages slaughtered.And for _what?_ ” 

“We’ve never attacked any villages,” Hidan said with a smile, coy smile.“It seems you have other problems to deal with.Maybe you should put me down and go find the real culprit.” Hidan examed Kakashi, his grin growing wider with menace. 

Whatever his motive for revealing such a piece of information, Hidan got what he wanted.The implications of this information washed over Kakashi in waves, filling him with unease. 

It was always possible that this was a lie.It would be a clever misdirection tactic, to make Kakashi chase rabbits in the shadows, letting the Akatsuki wreak havoc unchecked.But Kakashi believed it.Perhaps it was the confidence of the phrasing or the way Hidan’s eyes widened slightly at the mention of the slaughtered villages. 

Kakashi was certain when he saw the way Hidan’s gaze drank in Kakashi’s clear uncertainty; as though he had been handed a surprise weapon.

The village Kakashi and Sakura had seen had been butchery, plain and simple.Jiraiya had mentioned others, killed in the same manner, and Tsunade had received reports of whole towns on the border destroyed and slaughtered.It didn’t fit the pattern of Akatsuki led attacks.The Akatsuki had attacked Konoha and Sunagakure directly, in the heart of their capital cities.The attacks had been large, flashy, and expensive to repair.But, they did not command large body counts.

It was not possible the Akatsuki had an army hidden somewhere.Each of them commanded more sorcery than Kakashi had ever seen, but they fought their own battles on their own.Deidara certainly had not possessed the temperament to lead men, and based on this conversation alone, neither did Hidan. 

No, they had to be few in numbers.

The sorcery they commanded was like none he had ever seen, and he was certain they had an outside source for their magic. Such a thing would be too valuable to advertise to too many fighters.Nothing could command unlimited power, so it would have only been shared with a chosen few—a jealously kept secret.Anything less risked drawing attention from every king and would-be warlord on the continent. 

Hidan watched realization wash over Kakashi, his expression growing smug and knowing.

“Take this thing away from me,” Kakashi spat.He could take the Akatsuki’s riddles no longer.Not now that he understood that he had been lead astray.He had no more time for their games. There was something else, lurking in the dark, waiting for when the battlefield smoke had settled and the king and his guard had relaxed into complacency.

It would be the perfect moment for them to strike.Tsunade was dead, Naruto was too inexperienced to rule.Danzo lurked in the shadows of the realm, with his secret army.And behind them all lurked Sasuke Uchiha, waiting for his moment. 

There were too many moving pieces, and he was too tired to pick them up for a thorough examination.He wanted to drink himself into unconsciousness, to curl into his bed for a long night’s rest. 

(He wanted Sakura there beside him, sleepy and warm.)

But he could have none of those things. 

The realm needed him, and he would answer the call. 


	18. xvii. the grand renunciation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for all of your comments on the last chapter!!! I am happy to report that this chapter is more thickening plot and surprise complications. Unfortunately, I have some (good) life changes coming up, so updates maaaaaaay slow down slightly. When I started this fic, I (a fool) wrote an outline, nodded and said "should be 50k words". Even following my outline fairly closely, I am probably 2/3rds of the way through. This just goes to show....I am a clown.

xvii. the grand renunciation

The roaring in Sakura’s ears was more than she could bear.It enveloped her, eclipsing all other sounds, swallowing up voices and thoughts until all she had left was a long, dull buzzing in her bones.With each step she took, she asked herself, why?Where am I going?What am I doing? 

The shape of the world was wrong.

It was with uncomfortable, calculated silence that Sasuke led her through the castle.They picked through the dark ruin of the castle, dodging cracking floorboards, and falling planks.Sasuke had to produce a torch to illuminate their way as the lit braziers of home were gone.Their bronze cages on the walls had bent and melted in the blaze.The plush carpets that softened the sound of their footfalls were a ruin, covered in dark ash. 

And everywhere she looked, there was guilt. Gleefully her unconscious brain provided her with a long list of crimes:

-She had not been there to fight for Konoha, she had been helping her mentor escape from the dungeons.

-She had not been there to fight for her mentor, she had been stealing small pleasures from Kakashi on the road.

-She had not been a proper knight, untouched by desire. Instead, she had submerged herself in it, as she had kissed Kakashi on a riverbed.

And so the list went on. 

Sasuke interrupted the litany, opening a ruined door.Sakura could only blink as she realized they had arrived at Tsunade’s office.Documents scattered the floor, intermingled with shattered glass along the floor.It should have been perfectly preserved, Tsunade would have warded it against fire damage years ago.Such work was simple, relying more on chalk sigils than the caster's own power.But the enchantments had dissipated like dust when Tsunade had--

She couldn’t think the word.Thinking it would make it true.

“I’ll keep watch while you take what you need,” Sasuke said, his face sharp and unreadable.It was not kindness in his eyes as he stepped out of the room.Sakura did not question it. She lingered in the middle of the room, struck foolish and slow by the lack of Tsunade’s presence. 

Everywhere she looked was sharp with newly painful memories, so she did not allow herself to linger over any one detail. She busied herself with digging through her mentor’s drawers.The action cleared her mind, giving her a central task to pour her efforts into.No doubt Sasuke thought she was nothing but a grieving girl, desperate for some keepsake to remember Tsunade by.He had no idea the secrets Tsunade had passed on to her.The danger that Sakura could be in, had anyone else gotten access to this office. 

It was with horror then, that Sakura realized that the office had been picked clean.Tsunade’s drawers had been emptied, her books pulled from their shelves.As she dug deeper she realized that the destruction here was not the work of the fire alone.Someone had torn through this office already, taking whatever they thought might be useful. 

Tsunade would never have been foolish enough to commit anything to paper that might incriminate Sakura.Anything personal or dangerous would have been written in code—Tsunade had always been relentlessly careful.But because she was so thorough, Tsunade would have also left a will.There should have been instruction for the running of the castle, comprehensive documentation, and journals, final words for Naruto. 

There should have been _something_ for Sakura. 

All of it was gone.All of it was likely in Danzo’s hands now. 

She stepped out of Tsunade’s office, suddenly cold.

“There is somewhere else I need to go,” she told Sasuke, her voice foreign to her own ears. 

Sasuke nodded, his dark gaze flicking over her form curiously.They had not spent a moment together since their fateful duel.When he had bested her once again. 

Was it guilt that made him follow her to Danzo’s office?No, that was a ridiculous thought.Sasuke did not have room for such an emotion.It had been four long years since they had fought together as pages, but some things did not change.Sakura’s loss in the tournament would have been just one more affirmation of his own superiority.There was nothing Sasuke held in more disdain than those weaker than himself.He was merciless in his lack of empathy. 

But something had spurred him into guiding Sakura out of the courtyard, and now taking watch at Danzo’s office door.She took a final look at his back as she retreated into the office, to begin her search.But that was not so easy as combing through drawers and documents.Any time her thoughts brushed up against the _why_ of her pretense there, a scream grew in her chest, hungry for release.If she gave in, Sakura suspected she would not stop, not ever.Not until she had smashed Danzo’s head in with an axe, until she had torn the castle stone by stone for what it had done to Tsunade. 

Much safer then, to consider the problem of Sasuke Uchiha. 

In their page years, Sakura had wanted him desperately.He had been everything she thought a knight should be: powerful, intelligent, courageous, handsome.His noble lineage and wealth, coupled with a dark streak of tragedy had made him seem like something from a bard’s tale.When he left, it had felt like her heart had been ripped out. 

In the years since, Sakura had realized that it was not her heart that had broken that day.It had been her girlish fantasies about what the world meant.Of what it meant to be a knight.Life was not a story, with an internal logic guiding them each to a comfortable conclusion.It was random and brutal and cruel.Sasuke Uchiha was not a tortured hero.He was just a boy, hungry for power and disdainful of the weak, broken by the weight the world expected him to carry. 

Tsunade had been the one to help her realize that.She had taken Sakura under her wings, letting her be something other than the crying girl in the backgrounds of a story.By putting power back in Sakura’s hands she had—

No.If she went down that thought-line, the screaming would start.

Sakura glanced up at Sasuke in the doorway.If he had not humiliated her in the tournament, would she still want him?Even though she saw him now for who he was, Sakura suspected the answer was yes.There were no heroes and perfect romances.And Sasuke’s dark magnetism was unchanged. 

She could feel the pull of it even now.But she would not fall prey, not now that she had seen the grim cut of his smile as he defeated her. After he had snatched all of the power out of her hands and shattered it on the arena floor. 

“Hurry,” Sasuke said.“I suspect Danzo has lost interest in the recovery.He will be back soon.”

Sakura cursed, taking stock of what little she had uncovered.It was entirely dry sums of costs and tax revenue.She knew this could not be the end of his documents.A man like Danzo, who saw enemies at all sides, would keep his records hidden away.His private quarters were attached to the rooms, and Sakura crept into the decrepit room. 

It stank of ash and rotting meat.There were no scrolls or books, no scribbled notes at the side of the bed.Sakura realized then, that Danzo had another, hidden repository for his work.His bedside drawers were empty, and aside from a few articles of clothing, it looked like this room was barely used.

This was a man with secrets. 

The only clue was a doorway next to his bed.Sakura tugged at it to no results.It was locked.Despite the fire, the polished mahogany of the wood still shone proudly.Its hinges and doorknob were unmelted and unrusted.Almost as though it had been warded against such damage by sorcery.

Fury filled Sakura as she realized the hypocrisy at work. 

Again she tested her strength on it, filling her veins with magic, to pull at the doorknob.It did not budge.Despite the crumbling walls of her home, Danzo’s barriers stood firm.She would need a key.

“We need to go,” Sasuke said, his head popping into Danzo’s private chambers.“Someone’s coming.” 

_I need more time_ , she wanted to scream.But Sasuke’s favors did not come easily.Sakura would not throw water in the face of this tentative alliance by ignoring his advice.Sasuke close behind, she slipped out of the rooms and into the wreckage of the halls.

Just in time, it turned out.Danzo’s footsteps echoed off the walls of the empty stone halls, followed by the quiet padding of Sai’s feet.Sakura held her breath as she spotted them, turning into the office and disappearing.She took the first tentative steps to follow, ready to conceal herself with magic if necessary.Anything to slake her hunger for answers.

But Sasuke’s hand was on her wrist, his fingers closed around the delicate bones there, and he _pulled._ Not enough to manipulate her, but softly.There was a question in the gesture.A question was a choice.A question was respect.Respect that she had craved so badly as a page, given now for nothing.Perhaps there _had_ been a change in the four years of his absence.Perhaps he had not simply become colder and harder, like glittering black obsidian. 

Her heart relented, and Sakura fell into compliance.She followed Sasuke down the winding halls of the castle ruins. 

The sight of her home’s destruction left a yawning pit in her stomach.It was not gone, not completely, she told herself. They could rebuild. 

But it would never be the same.

Sasuke did not speak again until they reached the town below.In the shadows of the stone walls, Sasuke turned to her and asked “did you find enough evidence?”Although his tone was detached, there was no polite curiosity in Sasuke’s gaze.Instead, his dark eyes glimmered with intensity.Like a lock clicking into place, Sakura realized what Sasuke had been after.They shared an enemy. 

“Not yet,” Sakura said. 

And in the dim torchlight, Sakura saw that first delicate flicker of respect fade.The pain of that disappointment twisted in her stomach, as sharp as any dagger.She shouldn’t crave his respect, but she did.And that weakness compounded on her own self-loathing. 

“They are preparing quarters for us in the market district,” Sasuke said, his voice as final as a closing door.“I know the way.”

They did not speak as he showed her the tents where she would be housed.Sakura simply nodded her goodnights, mirroring his own flat affect.

Sasuke stopped her then.His voice was low and he stepped close, bringing his lips to her ear in a perversion of a lover’s whisper.

“You can’t trust him.” 

Did he think her an _idiot?_ Of course she didn’t trust Danzo.No one should.Perhaps he had been dealing with Naruto for too long, who handed out trust like favors, assuming the best in everyone’s nature.But as Sakura opened her mouth to protest, he continued.

“Not Danzo.Kakashi.”

Torchlight caressed the emotionless contour of Sasuke’s face as he stepped away, resisting all attempts at further questioning. 

As Sakura tucked herself into the borrowed bedroll in her tent, she resolved to ignore Sasuke in the future.Her spine protested against the firmness of the ground, and her muscles would not unclench. 

It had not bothered her in the weeks she had spent on the road, camping.But then, she had not been nearly so cold, nor so alone. 

Longing for Kakashi was a foolish endeavor.They had agreed to bring an end to their affair upon arrival home.He had been perfectly right to fear for her career if they were discovered.And truly, what claim did she have upon him?He was a knight, and several years her senior, and married to his duty and the Guard.

But now, alone in her sleeping roll, her muscles aching and her head pounding, she ached for his presence. 

Kakashi had never looked at her with such disdain.He would have kept lookout, Sasuke had done.And he would have pulled her away from the office, as Sasuke had done.But she would never have given in so easily.She would have pulled back, unafraid of losing his respect. 

It should have been Kakashi at her side.

Instead, he had stopped her duel with Danzo. 

_For Konoha._ He had done it for Konoha.He had said that she, and the _realm_ needed time to rest. 

It was not the realm that Sakura cared for. It was the feeling of power thrumming through her as she first mended a bird’s wing, her sorcery so new and fleeting she had been afraid that it would burn out completely.It was Kakashi, and stolen kisses beneath the shadows of forest leaves.

It was Tsunade at her side, a small, secret smile brimming with pride despite her mentor’s rough character.

But Tsunade was gone now. 

Nothing mattered if Danzo trampled over everything good and just, until nothing but he and his bloody cohort were left standing.A lump grew in Sakura’s throat, threatening tears. 

The raw wound in her heart was too fresh, too open for thoughts like these. 

Sakura took each of her worries and tucked them away, locked tight inside her until they would not escape.Now more than ever she needed to be master of her emotions.There were too many enemies at her door to let anyone think her vulnerable.She had to rest, to gather her strength.Sakura would not crumble, not until she knew what secrets Danzo kept.Until she brought forth his hypocrisy and turned everyone in the kingdom against him, as he had done to Tsunade.

When sleep finally took her, Sakura dreamed of doors.

* * *

Muffled arguing woke her too early.At first, she ignored the noise, assuming it was the sounds of the castle staff readying the halls for the day.Soon she would have to report for a morning sparring session, but sleep was precious and she ached for more _time._

But instead of the softness of a feathered mattress, Sakura leaned into hard cobblestone.It was discordant enough to remind her of where she was.Like climbing a staircase and missing a step, Sakura suddenly remembered all of what had occurred the night before. 

“I will _not_ remain here.”A was a man’s voice cut through the quiet of her tent, firm and harried. 

“Think of what you could do if you stayed.”That was Kakashi’s voice, insistent even as he tried to keep his volume low.Her attention firmly caught, Sakura slipped out of the tent to observe.She still wore the rumpled, bloodstained clothes of last night.But, based on the scene before her, she was not the only one who still bore marks of the battle.

Kakashi stood before Sir Jiraiya.The older knight pulled a long wooden cart, a white blanket covering its contents.The two men were clearly in the middle of an argument: Jiraiya trying to pull the cart and Kakashi standing before him, his shoulders squared and his face grim.Kakashi had changed into a fresh uniform, but his face bore the dark circles of someone who had not gotten any sleep.Opposite him, Sir Jiraiya still wore the same clothes as the night before.His blood-streaked finery from the coronation stuck out in the grey light of dawn. 

“I told you when I brought Naruto back, my place is not in Konoha.” Sir Jiraiya had not noticed Sakura’s arrival, his focus was narrowed on Kakashi blocking his path. 

“But things have changed,” Kakashi insisted.“Naruto needs all the allies he can get.Konoha needs your expertise.”

“What do I care for Konoha?” Sir Jiraiya snarled.Then he spat on the cobblestone between them as if to punctuate his disdain.“I’m a mountain hermit.I’ve been a hermit since before you were born.Let me retire to my books and my rocks.The politics are your job.”

Sakura noticed it then: the red rim of Sir Jiraiya’s eyes.The swelling that emphasized his dark circles.The knight was a prideful man, but there was no hiding the bruising touch of grief.The cart behind him was long and flat, the perfect size for transporting a body. 

Tsunade had spoken of Sir Jiraiya as an old comrade, a counselor whose wisdom she valued above all others.When she told stories of their exploits as pages, it was with a careful fondness.Sakura had never wondered before if there was more to their relationship.Tsunade had loved once, and lost a fiance in one of Konoha’s bloody, senseless wars. 

Now, as Sakura saw the storm of loss that buffeted Jiraiya, she wondered if there was more to the story.If Tsunade had guarded her heart after that first loss, but somehow Jiraiya had slipped through her fortifications. 

“Let him go,” Sakura finally spoke, making her presence known.Kakashi opened his mouth to argue, but the certainty in Sakura’s gaze silenced him. 

Sir Jiraiya turned to her with a flourishing bow, but the gesture did not reach his expression.She could see the prickle of stubble at his chin, the exhaustion of grief heavy on his shoulders. 

“We will manage somehow,” Sakura said, stepping to Kakashi’s side. 

Resignation colored Kakashi’s nod as he moved out of Sir Jiraiya’s way. 

“My regards,” the older knight said, not glancing back.He spared them one final wave, the back of his palm still flecked with mud, his gaze trained on the horizon before them. 

In silence, Sakura and Kakashi watched him go.The only sound in the early dawn hours was the crunch of cart wheels on cobblestones until Sir Jiraiya disappeared from view. 

“He would have been useful,” Kakashi said.“We are thin on allies.” 

The way he said ‘we’ was a balm.So different from Sasuke’s attitude the night before, the way he had shut himself off from her at the slightest provocation.But she would not relent so easily.

“You know as well as I do that it’s no alliance if he stays against his will.” 

Kakashi sighed his agreement.“A man can dream.But at least I have you with me.”The gaze he turned on her was gentle and teasing, but not without a trace of seriousness.It was that earnestness that told her of the genuine relief behind his words.Normally she would have preened under the thought that he relied on her, but Sasuke’s words had darkened her mood. 

_You can’t trust him._

It was _Sasuke_ she couldn’t trust.Betrayer, prodigy, genius.Sasuke did nothing for only one reason.He wouldn’t say something that had no merit, thinking she would jump on the bait immediately.He had called her a foolish girl, once, but surely he did not think her foolish enough to dance to his every lie.

She had to trust Kakashi.He was one of the few people in the kingdom who knew her secret.Tsunade had escaped execution, but the price had been her life.Kakashi would not stand by and let her face that same fate.Despite his duty to the realm, he would never put such a thing between them.

He would never turn on her.

But if the truth came out about her powers, Danzo would call for her head.It was all the more reason to get ahead of the old man.The door in his chambers, so obviously magicked was the perfect place to start.Her instincts screamed at her to rush on ahead, relying only on herself, but that method had failed her time and again.She needed to change. 

She needed Kakashi. 

“Let’s speak private,” she said. 

“Walk with me.”Kakashi nodded, leading her along. 

They strolled side by side, through the center of town.At every turn, Sakura expected him to lead her to some private corner but he continued the routine stroll, surveying the town as it came to life in the morning.He put a steadying hand at her back, and Sakura melted into the heat of his touch.

“I find that secret conversations are best had out in the open,” Kakashi said.“In tents, it's too easy for observers to lurk on the other side of the canvas.Here, no one will think much of it if we take a morning stroll.”He surveyed Sakura and amended his words. 

“Well, they will think something of it.But not what you are trying to hide.” 

Sakura blushed, suddenly regretting that he had not led her to some dark alleyway.But no—stolen kisses in dark corners were off the table.That part of their relationship was over.He was merely a friend and ally.

( _Friend_. Oh what a double-edged word.)

“I thought you wanted to protect my career,” she shot back, her words carrying no venom. 

“I do, but there are more pressing dangers now than one lecherous old knight.”

She smacked him along the arm, then.“You aren’t old.Lecherous though….”She tilted her head as though in thought.“I do recall you taking advantage of your former student.”

Kakashi’s one visible eye widened in horror, and belatedly Sakura realized it had been too sharp a blow.“If you feel taken advantage of-“ he began, the words tripping over themselves,“If there is anything-“

“Relax,” she cut him off in a hurry.“It was a joke.”

Kakashi’s laugh was awkwardly relieved.Sakura worried at her bottom lip.She had no idea that this was something he worried about.That was unfair; she had set the pace of their relationship.The only lingering regret she felt was that their affair had stopped. 

“Besides, you couldn’t take advantage of me if you tried.”

Something lit in Kakashi’s gaze as he leaned in close to her and asked, “is that a challenge, then?”His voice was a low growl.The vibration sent a shiver up her spine.His nearness overwhelmed her senses, the feel of him pressed so closely against her, so close she could steal an illicit kiss and card her fingers through his hair.

 _Yes_ , she wanted to say. _Yes.Seduce me.Take me in that dark alley and do your worst._

“Tsunade would-“

The words slipped out too easily.Flirting in the early morning light had made her forget, so completely, what she had lost the night before.The reasons she wanted Danzo’s head on a platter.The sudden bite of tears at her eyes took her by surprise, and Sakura had to change tack quickly to stop any other inconvenient emotions.

“I brought you out here for business,” Sakura said.“I need your help.”

“Anything,” Kakashi said, equally somber. 

“Danzo’s hiding something.”

Kakashi cocked an eyebrow as if to say, _don’t we all know that?_

With a peek over her shoulder to ensure that no one followed them, she said, “I broke into his rooms last night.” 

Kakashi let loose a low whistle of approval.“That’s not very knightly of you,” he said, tone light with mock disapproval. 

“I learned as a page that I should use the weapons I’m given,” she said.“If that includes subterfuge, so be it.”

Then Sakura launched into her version of the whole endeavor.The lack of documents in Tsunade’s office, the suspicious organization of Danzo’s private quarters, the mysterious door, warded against all damage.Kakashi’s expression seemed to darken with every word. 

“You want to break in,” he said.“But you need a key.”

“I guess there’s a reason they made you Knight-Captain of the guard.Must be all those powers of deduction.”

“You know I have a duty to stop things like robbery and theft,” Kakashi said.For the first time, Sakura could not tell if he was joking. 

“Your duty is to the realm, not Danzo.” 

There was that word again, slipping through her lips like it meant anything. _Duty_. _The realm._ D _amn them both_ , she wanted to say. _Throw them away and hang the bastard with me._ Once, he had offered as much.In a dark cave, death nipping at their heels, he had forsworn the king and the realm both.Had said that _she_ was his duty.

 _You can’t trust him._ Sasuke’s words rang through her once again, this time striking a note of truth. 

Kakashi hung his head as he said, “Danzo is a loyal servant to the realm and its people.He is a dangerous enemy to make, and he won’t hesitate to strike if he thinks you are a threat.”

“A threat to the realm or a threat to his power?”The words came out staccato sharp. 

“Both,” Kakashi said. 

“That’s not a good enough reason to let him do whatever he wishes,” she retorted, losing patience.Once she would have simply chased the key down alone, rushing into danger without seeking help.This time she had gone against the grain of her nature and sought his help.Sakura had stretched herself into transformation, crashing abasing her every instinct Only because she had wanted him by her side.

But Kakashi had not changed.He still held her back, as he had tried to at the tournament.As he had held her back while she watched Tsunade burn. 

The only time he had let her go, to make her own choices, had been to fight Sasori.Even then, it was only because his twice-damned _duty_ demanded he find Gaara. 

“Forget it,” she snapped.“It was a stupid idea.” 

Before Kakashi could say something to calm her, she turned and left, abandoning him to the market square.

_You can’t trust him._

You gave me no _evidence_ she wanted to scream at Sasuke.The Champion had done nothing but seed doubts in her mind, taking advantage of her grief and exhaustion.But damn him, it had _worked._

For all his pretty words and heated kisses, Sakura could not escape the fear that Kakashi would choose the realm over her.Once, Sakura would have understood the choice.She would have made it just as readily. 

Once the realm was ruled by Tsunade, who managed it as justly and fairly as possible, who had ushered in an era of well-managed peace.Sakura had seen first-hand how Tsunade had thrown herself into her work, how carefully she had tended this thing called a kingdom. 

And Sakura had been in the front row of the audience, to watch as Tsunade got what she had earned. 

Duty and honor were consolation prizes, passed out by those with their hand on the captain's wheel, by those who possessed what really mattered: power. 

The power to decide who lived and died.The power to decide who had the right to humanity and who deserved an appointment on the executioner’s block.The power to shape the future, to control the story of the past, to dictate the terms of the present. 

Honor was just the coin tossed at the gateman, duty the chain that dangled around his neck.Shiny and distracting and meaningless. 

* * *

In the days that followed, Sakura began to…chafe.The castle’s rebuilding was slow, too slow, and she ached to move out of her makeshift tent and into her old room, with its soft feather bed and glass windows that looked down on the bustle of markets and onward to the forest that surrounded the city.Instead, she had to content herself with a tent in the middle of the market square, alongside the rest of the displaced squires. 

The nights turned colder and the late summer heat began to fade into the first chill of autumn.The highly ranked nobility and gently bred ladies and their staff had filled the city’s inns.The barracks of the guard had been left unscathed, located on the outer walls of the castle.Kakashi was bunked there, with the other members of the guard although the building smelled strongly of smoke.(Selfishly, Sakura was annoyed at the knowledge that he had turned down a private room in one of the inns—it would have been an easy trick to convince him to share his warm bed.)

That left the squires to camp.Iruka, who headed their training, claimed it was good practice for when they went into the field.The lucky ones did just that.Rock Lee rode to join Sir Might Guy in the tumultuous borderlands, Ten Ten close behind.Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino were stuck in town.Hinata, taking advantage of her position as heir to the affluent Hyuga family, rode home with her cousin Neji in tow. 

Sakura longed to join the healers in their field hospital, to tend to the wounds of the battle with a wave of her hand.Watching Kiba’s flesh slowly knit together, without magical aid to hasten his recovery, irritated her.Tsunade had trained Sakura under a dual mandate: to wield life as well as death, and heal as much as she killed.It was too dangerous to make her powers known.Tsunade’s fate had been bad enough, but worse was the suspicion that flooded the city.Everyone knew now that the castle had burned by sorcery,that the Akatsuki who wielded such power were death-dealing magicians to be feared.

 _All the more reason to master such power ourselves,_ Sakura wanted to scream.Instead, she kept her head down and watched as the wounded struggled through recovery without her aid.Then, as the days turned, when fall began to lower its red curtain on the forest, she could do nothing to soothe the routine colds and flu that passed through the city.In the makeshift camp it spread quickly.(Sakura could not resist the small magics that kept herself healthy.) 

She did watch with some satisfaction as Sasuke struggled for days with a mild cold.His voice, muffled and honking with congestion, no longer sounded like the chilling heir to the Uchiha name, but just another young man, miserably inconvenienced by a mild flu.

With nothing else to do, Sakura traded her practice sword for hammer and nails and joined the rebuilding efforts.Each time her hammer missed its mark, the image of Sunagakure’s construction aided my magic filled her with venomous envy. 

At night, she searched for a way to unlock Danzo’s door.It was not overwhelmingly fruitful.Danzo was mysteriously absent from the bustle of recovery.He was likely hidden away somewhere, in the most expensive suite available, the key to his mysterious door dangling from his belt. 

As Sakura hammered at the wooden board before her, she imagined him warm and comfortable before a fireplace, smugly announcing his plans for Sai, who smirked beside him. 

Then, almost as if Sakura had summoned him, Danzo appeared from the inner chambers of the half-constructed castle.Without his entourage of soldiers, he looked like any other old man, wrapped in furs to ward away the chill of autumn.Sneering at the squadron of busy pages, Danzo approached. 

He stopped behind Sakura as if to survey the progress of the castle’s construction work.The skin at the back of her neck seemed to burn from his gaze, but she did not look up from her work.The only people that knew she had broken into his chambers were Sasuke and Kakashi.If Danzo suddenly confronted her, it would be easy to narrow down who had betrayed her.

_You can’t trust him._

“Have you given any thought to what you’ll do now?” Danzo asked, his voice sharp between the beat of hammers.The sudden acknowledgment made Sakura jump.Although Sakura’s thoughts swirled around Danzo and his motives, although she had challenged him to a duel, they had never properly conversed.The older man had no use for his enemy, Tsunade’s squire.She had always been too far below his notice. 

It satisfied her to think that she would be the architect of his downfall. 

“I believe construction will keep me busy for a while, my lord,” Sakura replied, the honorific as bitter as blood on her tongue.She still did not look at him. Sakura bit her tongue and funneled her focus into making sure each strike of her hammer hit its mark.It would not help her pride to accidentally hit her thumb under Danzo’s judgmental gaze.

“So you plan to become a carpenter?” Danzo asked.That shocked Sakura into turning around to face him. 

“My lord?” 

“It should be obvious,” Danzo continued.“You were sworn to serve under the Regent of the realm.Your knight-master has perished, after having been found guilty of high treason.Although there has been no formal accusation, no monarch would trust you to uphold the honor of the realm as a knight.Everyone would know you were privy to her crimes.Even if you did survive the Proving, the King will never knight you.” 

The roaring rose in Sakura’s ears once again.She could barely hear her own thoughts at the suggestion.

“I suppose I’ll join the guard then,” she heard herself say airily.It was a comfort to know that even disassociated from herself, Sakura could still muster the will to disrespect her betters. 

“I would recommend against your appointment,” Danzo said.

Her muscles worked in slow-motion, producing a half shrug.“Mercenary work, then.If you will excuse me, my lord?”

“You are dismissed,” Danzo said, not looking away from her face.The choice of words screamed condescension— only their commanding officer had the right to dismiss a squire.Sakura was a member of the nobility, and technically on the same social footing as Danzo.But, in his tone, it was clear he saw her as something far lesser.He seemed to search her expression for weakness, reveling in the pain turmoil he had caused. 

Sakura did not give him the satisfaction.She departed with her chin lifted and her gaze trained on the horizon.It was preposterous to think her training for knighthood could come to such an end.She had proven herself a thousand times over.Kakashi himself had said he wanted to recommend her for the Proving this year. 

_You can’t trust him._

What had Sasuke _meant?_ Surely Kakashi would not see her stripped of her position.Naruto would never allow it.He had many flaws but disloyalty was not among them.He would knight her no matter what Danzo said.He would fight for her to the bitter end. 

_As he had fought for Tsunade?_ A darkly sensible part of her hissed, sounding suspiciously like Sasuke. 

There had been too many tragedies of late.She had to decide for herself who to trust.If she let Sasuke’s words get into her head, she would never be able to find her footing. 

One thing was certain, Danzo would ensure she was never knighted.He would see her dead in the Proving if that was what it took to make sure that day never came.All the more reason to hasten her investigation, to turn Naruto and his court against the scheming advisor.

Away from the construction site, Sakura’s muscles relaxed and her adrenaline fled her.She was adrift without work to do, but she would not give Danzo the satisfaction of slinking back to work.No one would look for her, not truly.Danzo had been right about one thing, Sakura did not have a knight to supervise her training.With Tsunade gone, there was no one to give her the personalized training that came with being a squire.

A knight was meant to shepherd squires from their early fumbling years to the day they were fully sworn into service to the monarch.Some knights took on more than one squire—Sir Might Guy was one such knight, who had taken both Ten Ten and Rock Lee under his command.As far as Sakura knew, she was the only squire Tsunade had ever taken.Tsunade should have been there to prepare her for the Proving, in whatever shape it would take that year.To stand by as she was knighted, to be there to celebrate after the ceremony, and to gently mock her in the morning when she was too hungover to even call for water. 

The dream that she had anchored herself to, through skirmishes with bandits and facing down the Akatsuki, was crumbling into ash in her mouth. 

Sakura wound through the beating heart of the capital city, her chest collapsing in on itself.One thought thrummed through her. _Find Kakashi._

If it made her weak to need someone so desperately, Sakura did not care.She craved his cool confidence, and the way he could make the impossible seem like a mere inconvenience.He would see a path forward where she could not.

At the very least, he would let her join the guard. 

The barracks stood on the edge of the castle, where stone walls melted into the wealthy homes of Konoha’s merchant class.Sakura’s own family had once owned a townhome in the city, but when they were elevated to the nobility, they had moved to a country estate several miles away. A youth spent as a page and then squire had given her an internal map of the city, as clear as though it were tattooed on her own palm.Even distracted, she could easily find the brick square of architecture that housed the guard.

But, locked in a spiral of thoughts as she was, Sakura did not notice the figure shadowing her until it was too late.A hand reached out from an alley, appearing from nowhere, to grab her forearm and pull her into the cool darkness of the alley.

Hours in the practice yard did not fail her.Sakura flung herself into action, her training coming alive to throw her attacker against a wall.Before he could speak, she had drawn a knife from her belt and held it to the long pale neck of—

Sasuke Uchiha.He did not seem bothered by the fact that she had been ready to slit his throat.If anything it seemed to amuse him.

“Don’t _do_ that,” Sakura spat, sheathing the dagger. 

“I’ve been following you for a while.You should pay more attention.”He dusted invisible dirt off his white shirt, which he wore tucked into dark leather pants. The outfit made him look more like one of the young heirs to a merchant family rather than a battle-ready King’s Champion. 

But, in her own dusty brown shirt and pants, Sakura supposed she looked more like a roadside worker than a squire.

“You’ll forgive me for being a little preoccupied these days.”Anyone could guess at that, at least, even if the particulars were nothing she cared to discuss with Sasuke.

“I heard everything.” 

That sucked the air out from around her.

“I don’t think it should matter to you,” Sakura said, turning away.She couldn’t let him see the turmoil on her face.“Didn’t you tell me I was only an annoyance once?”

“That was a long time ago,” Sasuke replied, stepping closer to her.She resisted the urge to look back at him.It would tell her nothing, the Uchiha boy did not let his emotions show on his face.But now she would never know the look on his face as he said, “I would have thought you’d have forgotten.” 

_Damn._ She had laid out another of her vulnerabilities for Sasuke to wield against her.

“You’re thinking of Naruto.He’s the one with the habit of forgetting treason.” 

“I would think you would welcome me back.Aren’t we two of a kind?Haven’t we both forsworn our kingdom chasing after power?Although _you_ didn’t have to journey nearly so far.” Sakura whirled on him then, drawing her dagger and hissing through her teeth. 

“How did you find out,” she snarled.Her dagger glinted with noon sunlight as it once again brushed against the alabaster pillar of his throat.

“It was a guess,” Sasuke shrugged.“Although I didn’t expect you to own up to it so easily.”As a peace offering, he raised both hands to shoulder level.The classic gesture of surrender. 

If she hadn’t been knocked so off-balance by Danzo, had her grief not been an open would, Sakura knew her thoughts would have been quicker.She should have denied it, acted confused, pretended to be ignorant of the crimes Sasuke accused her of.

In the lazy smile and the glimmer of Sasuke’s dark eyes, Sakura knew he would never have believed the act.He would have read her denial as a defensive tactic.In some ways, it was a relief to have this in the open air between them. 

“I never betrayed Konoha.Give me one good reason I shouldn’t slit your throat right here.”It was an empty threat, but it felt good as it slipped through her lips.Killing Sasuke would not be easy, especially not after that she had displayed her intent so freely.It would also make a permanent enemy of Naruto, for all his forgiving nature. 

“I killed Orochimaru,” Sasuke said.“So perhaps we should revisit who among us is the traitor.”

That surprised Sakura’s enough to make her lower her blade. 

“Why?You followed Orochimaru even after he killed King Hiruzen.Why change your mind?”

“Konoha is my home.The Uchiha family has served the realm since the founding of the kingdom.I only had…unfinished business to take care of.” 

“And you’ve completed that business?” But she already knew the answer to his question.

“Not until Itachi is dead by my hand,” Sasuke said, ancient anger slipping through the cracks of his calm facade.“But Orochimaru had outlived his usefulness, and it was time to return home.” 

“Well, congratulations then,” Sakura said, no warmth in her tone.“You’ve dispatched a threat to the kingdom and now you can return the triumphant hero.We should throw a celebration in your honor, shower you with titles and lands, and let pretty boys and girls throw themselves at you.Oh wait—I believe we already did that when you became Champion.” 

Sasuke flashed her a dishonest grin.“And to think, all it took was defeating you.”

Sakura slapped him.The move surprised her as much as it did him.The crack of her hand on his cheek resonated through the empty alley, bounding off cobblestones and brick walls. 

She had loved him once, with all of the depth her fourteen-year-old heart could muster.Now, she could not imagine feeling anything other than deep loathing.Loving him had been like wringing a stone for water and calling a single drop sustenance.

The silence that settled between them was deafening.It lasted a beat too long, and Sakura’s muscles tensed as she prepared for Sasuke to lash out. 

His laugh shattered the silence like a stone through glass.Every hair on the back of her neck shot up at the sound, jagged and sharp and just as able to draw blood as any sword.“You haven’t changed at all,” Sasuke said. 

_I have.I have.You just never saw me, not once.And you don’t see me now._

“Make your point and go,” she snapped. 

“I’m not your enemy,” Sasuke said.“We’ve never been friends, but I can’t stand by and watch you walk into a trap.” 

“You’re too late for that one, Sasuke,” she fired back.“I lay my own traps now.”

“Is that what you call stumbling into Kakashi’s bed?”

She schooled every muscle of her face into cool indifference, unwilling to hand him another ounce of information. 

“Don’t you think such accusations are beneath you?” she said flatly.“Discrediting women for their bed partners—real or imagined—is rather common.I’d have thought you would be more creative than _that._ ”

“Very good,” Sasuke said.“You’re getting better at this.Not a single trace of defensiveness.But you can rest easy.You aren’t the one who gave it away this time.It was all Kakashi, grabbing after you at every chance he got.” 

Sakura snorted.Sasuke read too much into the situation.Kakashi was a professional, and she doubted he thought of their affair as anything more than an amusing diversion.The Knight-Captain of the guard would never make such a slip in public.

(The sharp edge of the thought was another matter.I would take far longer for her to extract her emotions from their entanglement.)

“What passes between Kakashi and me is not all that all that interesting,” she said.“Although I seem to recall you insisting I couldn’t trust him.Without evidence, by the way.”

“Come with me,” Sasuke said, gesturing for him to follow her into the shadows. 

* * *

It turned out that Sasuke kept a comfortable apartment in town.Unlike the rest of the nobility, Sasuke had not been ensconced into an inn.Instead, he paid rent, like an upstanding citizen, and even more outlandishly owned furniture.Worse, his apartment was tastefully decorated, with rich, mahogany furniture and plush navy cushions.The entire scene was discordantly domestic. 

“You’ve asked me for evidence,” Sasuke said, picking up the threads of their conversation.Sakura was still too distracted by Sasuke’s decorating habits to pay much attention. 

“How long have you been renting this place?”Sakura asked, looking up at the fireplace mantle.The crest of the Uchiha family hung above it, in a place of honor.She tried to picture Sasuke Uchiha doing anything so common as paying his bills on time. 

“That’s none of your concern,” Sasuke replied.“I brought you here so we would be undisturbed.I did not think you would want witnesses to this conversation.” 

Sakura sighed, turning her attention back on Sasuke.Her regard for him had lessened but seeing this place had sparked her curiosity.She would have to puzzle of Sasuke and his lodgings later.

“Have you ever noticed how Kakashi never speaks of his page years?”Sasuke asked, producing a tightly curled scroll from his desk.It was sealed with the seal of the old king, Hiruzen: a monkey’s face in bold wax of red and gold. 

“It’s none of our concern,” Sakura replied crisply.Kakashi had already shared with her the tragedy that lurked in his youth, that had claimed Obito Uchiha in their page years.She had no desire to give Sasuke that information, however. Internally she could not help but gloat, slightly, that she had bee trusted with information that he lacked.

“There’s a reason for that,” he said, cracking the seal and unfurling the document.“He was the only one of his squad who survived.My uncle, Obito Uchiha, died in an accident on the border.Kakashi stole his Sharingan for himself, although he swears my uncle passed it on to legitimately.” 

Sakura hummed, as though this were new, compelling information.

“A piece of family history, perhaps, but not very interesting for you,” Sasuke said, his voice suddenly soft.She had not stopped to wonder how Sasuke might feel about Kakashi’s possession of a member of his family’s anatomy.Even when she had loved him, the only emotions Sakura could imagine for him were fury, ambition, and disdain.Now she saw something like sadness in his posture.

“Rin Nohara was the third member of their squad.She was training to be a healer and sorceress; before the laws changed and such activities were forbidden.” 

_She’s dead too._

Kakashi’s words had piqued her interest, but Sakura had not pressed him.He had laid himself bare for her that day by the river, and she did not want to demand too much, too soon.In her arrogance, Sakura had assumed there would always be more _time._

“The official story is that she too fell in a separate border skirmish.Her family was given her remains and was told she had died a hero.It seems they are rather influential in Iwagakure, and King Hiruzen frequently used them as diplomats.”Sasuke’s voice was a monotone as he drove the story onward, oblivious to the horror seeping into Sakura’s bones. 

“She was killed for treason,” Sasuke said, finally looking up at Sakura.“The first, I believe, for her sorcery.The records say she was offered lenience at her trial, but instead she fled.A small team of fighters was sent after her, and she was killed during the retrieval.” 

Sakura’s throat was too dry to produce speech.Otherwise, she would have stopped him, stopped this. 

“The squire who killed her was knighted early for his service.He had volunteered for the mission.It was his first official kill.” 

_No._ She did not want to hear this, not from Sasuke.Not like this. 

Sasuke spread the scroll out before Sakura.If she did not believe him, the truth was laid out before her plain.Every night of their journey, Kakashi had written reports of their progress.Simple missives, detailing the events of the day, the supplies consumed.She had watched him by candlelight, wrapped his blankets and little else.By now, Sakura was as familiar with the swoops and curves of his script as she was her own.

So she could not lie to herself.Kakashi’s careful hand was laid before her in dark slashing lines of ink. 

_The fourth day of the ninth month of the fourth year of King Hiruzen Sarutobi’s reign. For the crimes of high treason, illegal use of sorcery, and attempting to flee from the justice of Konoha I, Kakashi Hatake, have executed Rin Nohara._

_I have done my duty to the realm._

Without a single word to Sasuke, Sakura turned and fled.


	19. II. Second Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I predicted....updates are gonna slow down a bit.... But i am still working away at this!!! Thank you so much for all of your comments on the last chapter, I really want to get better at replying to each of them! But...I also thought you guys would rather I update my fic sooner... 
> 
> Just know that I read each and every one <3 <3 <3 
> 
> But bad news.... I hope you guys like....Sasuke......

II. Second Interlude

Sasuke took a sip of his wine, swilling it over his tongue.It wasn’t a particularly good wine; rich and fruity with just enough of the taste of summer rotting into fall.If his companion thought the wine was not up to par, it did not show on his face. 

No, Shikamaru Nara was the ultimate diplomat, raised at the knee of Konoha’s lord of secrets.He would never permit himself to do something so pedestrian as insulting his host. 

For it had been by Sasuke’s invitation that he supped in the Champion’s quarters.It was in the hour just past midnight, the hour best meant for hidden trysts and clandestine exchanges.It was Sasuke’s native time of day.He was not Naruto, who displayed his heart for all to see and did not care if the entire kingdom knew his thoughts. 

“It seems the rebuilding efforts will be complete in time for winter,” Sasuke said, taking another sip of the mediocre wine.He hated small talk, but knew well that it could be used to put others at ease.He was not as studied in court manners as he should have been—having spent four years haunting the ramshackle castle Orochimaru called a “court” had not demanded much in the way of ballroom conversation.But he knew Shikamaru valued such niceties.“Perhaps we will not have to wade through the city snow.” 

“You’re certainly taking your time,” Shikamaru said at last.“When are you going to shed your serpent’s skin and show your true colors?”

Sasuke’s hand stilled.He took a deep inhale through his nose and grabbed a piece of cheese off the plate between them.The sticky brie gave him something to savor while he put his words together.This was a matter to be handled delicately, and Shikamaru in particular demanded a light touch.

“I shouldn’t have expected any less from you,” he finally said.“Let me cut down to the bone of this matter.It is clear that Konoha is in shambles.It is as obvious as the ruin of the castle.” 

Underestimating Shikamaru would be a grave mistake, one that would ensure the heir to the Nara family would never trust him.But sharing too much, too quickly, would cut through the fragile threads of their alliance.

Shikamaru stared down his nose at Sasuke, his expression utterly devoid of emotion.Unlike Naruto or Sakura, Sasuke had never been able to read his thoughts.But Shikamaru was not a fool, although he made himself out to be lazy and disinterested in anything more serious than an afternoon nap.This ruse was the very thing that had drawn Sasuke’s attention.

But, his cleverness gave Shikamaru a kind of internal consistency.For all his obtuse behavior, it was easy to draw the lines of his motivation if only one knew where to look.

As the Akatsuki’s attacks on Konoha continued, only a fool would support the laws against sorcery.Sorcery, as it was passed down through the lines of the noble families of Konoha, was one of the few things that might hold the onslaught back.Even if the Nara family did not possess their own family abilities; Shikamaru was no fool.He would never tolerate such a blatant weakness in the castle’s defenses.

Now that Tsunade had been tried for her crimes, it would be obvious to the intelligent observer that anyone was at risk.The Nara family commanded power over shadows, immobilizing their enemies in battle.Sasuke had seen him use his ability on Hidan of the Akatsuki.There were certain to be other witnesses.Shikamaru would not be oblivious to the target this painted on his back. 

“Danzo could come for any of us, at any moment,” Sasuke said.“He won’t be satisfied with Tsunade’s death.Royal blood did not protect her, and our family names will not protect us.”

At the invocation of Tsunade’s name, Shikamaru’s gaze flickered with something dark and intense.He narrowed his gaze as he observed Sasuke, as if analyzing every twitch of his muscles.The regent had been popular.Sakura was not the only one who carried a grudge over her fate.

“I’ve heard rumors that she was betrayed.That someone brought evidence of her powers to Danzo and his squad of witch hunters.”The hair at the back of Sasuke’s neck rose, but he did not allow himself the indulgence of acting surprised.Tsunade had been an obstacle, and like any good tactician, Sasuke had seen that obstacle removed.

“Is that what they call themselves?” Sasuke asked, keeping his voice distant and cool.“They seem to be an all-around private army, ready to mete out Danzo’s justice.” 

“What better place to start than eliminating anyone with the power to resist?”Shikamaru offered. 

Sasuke swallowed his smirk.“All the more reason to keep an eye out for one another.”

He could give Shikamaru that insight.Let him think he could gather his own intelligence.Let him think they were peers.

Shikamaru took up a piece of the dried apple on the platter before him.He gave it careful consideration before taking a bite, humming his approval.The food had been a peace offering, meant to show Sasuke’s commitment to an alliance.Another squire would have missed the subtleties of the message laid out between them, but Shikamaru had been schooled on the realities of running a kingdom since he was small enough to sit on his father’s knee.The cost of the spread had been considerable; in autumn, fruit, even dried, was a precious commodity.The cheese and bread would normally have been commonly available, but in the chaos of rebuilding and the violence on the borders, such delicacies had become precious. 

Massacred villages did not make for cheap food distribution. 

“Naruto will make for a tricky target,” the Nara heir said at last. 

“Danzo doesn’t have to take down Naruto to seize power,” Sasuke replied.“Just transform him into a puppet.”

“You are proposing we protect him?”Shikamaru cocked a skeptical eyebrow. 

“I am proposing we protect the realm.”It was the closest to outright treason Sasuke would come that night.The sharp lines of Shikamaru’s face did not soften at Sasuke’s words, and he brought his hands to his face, fingers steepled. Sasuke had seen him make this gesture a thousand times over, usually when puzzling out a tricky turn of chess.

“He loves you, you know.”

Whatever Sasuke had been expecting, it had not been that. 

They were discussing the running of kingdoms, the shaping of empires.There was no room for love in such matters.There was only power and who possessed it.Sasuke did not know what to do with such an accusation. 

“I do,” Sasuke lied. 

Shikamaru gave Sasuke a pitying gaze, then shook his head in silent surrender.“You haven’t changed at all.”He stood, gathering his leather coat in his arms.“I thank you for the hospitality.” 

Sasuke took a sharp inhale of breath.For a moment he was sure he had overplayed his hand and had pushed Shikamaru away.There had been no evidence passing between hands, no incriminating statements. For anyone less, it would be impossible to make allegations to stick. But for Shikamaru, insinuations would be just enough rope to hang Sasuke with. 

“Keep me in mind,” Shikamaru said.“The realm needs a better steward.”

With that, he dismissed himself, leaving Sasuke to thoughts of love and power.

* * *

Naruto thrived in the city, surrounded by people.Sasuke could see it every morning as they walked through the market square.Naruto, the blazing sun of Konoha, flashing his earnest smile at each passerby, could easily win the hearts of his people.No one noticed Sasuke Uchiha, his bodyguard in the shadows. 

It had become a routine, to walk through the city and take in the rhythm of its morning hours, the beating heart of the realm.Naruto stopped at every stall, buying produce he would never cook, admiring silks and jewelry for sale, asking after business as the seasons turned.He had no cunning about him.Shikamaru or even Kakashi would realize the ways this was useful, but Naruto did not seem to think of the information as anything other than a detail of humanity. 

He held no grudge, even after the way the city had treated him.It had been a mirror of Sasuke’s own isolated youth.Naruto and Sasuke, the forsaken sons of Konoha’s oldest noble lines.Either could have been chosen by the sword that hung at Naruto’s hip.Throughout the kingdom’s history, it did not choose from only one line.It chose from the families that had coursed through Konoha’s history, like veins through a massive body.A body made of rocks and mountains, towns, and manor estates. 

And like anybody, it took fuel to run, crunching bones and grinding bodies into a paste.When Sasuke looked at Naruto he could not stop the rush of questions.The other man wore his emotions on his sleeve, open for any to see, but still, Sasuke could not understand him.Was he even aware of the weight upon his shoulders?Did he know the cost a kingdom commanded?How could he care for this place, that would have watched him starve as a child?

Despite this history, when Naruto turned his gaze on a blacksmith hammering away at a menu of swords, or a baker kneading knots of garlicky loaves of bread, his smile shone with a radiance that none could match.And when he turned that gaze on Sasuke, there were none of the suspicions that haunted the others. 

Kakashi looked at him as though he may turn on them at any moment, as though Sasuke would charge the kingdom sword in hand, ready to commit a slaughter.Sakura looked at him as though she would run him through the instant he turned his back.Sometimes, it seemed she might not even wait that long; and would put a knife through his chest, meeting his gaze without flinching.

Naruto had none of that.From the beginning, he had been nothing but relentlessly glad to see Sasuke’s return.In naming Sasuke his Champion, he had put his throat in Sasuke’s hands and trusted him not to press down. 

That trust would be his undoing someday. 

The blue skies that hung above them as they wound through the labyrinth of stalls and tiny houses that made up the market district.Naruto chatted briskly with a man selling pottery, while Sasuke stood to the side.The air of autumn was crisp and clear and in its perfect coolness, it seemed that winter would never come.

But Sasuke knew the season would turn.It always did. 

“Your schedule, your majesty,” A clerk for the council appeared at Naruto’s side. Her dark hair was swept into a bun and her bangs hung loosely in front of her eyes, but something about the curve of her face unsettled him.“You were to meet with Sir Kakashi at the twelfth bell.”Sasuke’s ears perked in interest.This was the first he had heard of such a meeting.

“I’d forgotten,” Naruto replied, regret written all over his face.(A king should not apologize, Sasuke wanted to snap.)

“That’s why I came to fetch you.”She was no Shizune, who had managed Naruto with significantly more finesse.She would have not allowed them to run late. But she had made herself scarce after Tsunade’s trial, no doubt able to read the bloody writing on the wall. 

But there was something familiar about her, something not quite right.It wasn’t until the woman spared Sasuke a glance out of the corner of her eye, dark and reproachful, that he placed her.

Anko Mitarashi.Twenty-eight years old, five foot four inches tall, an expert with a knife and the handling of vipers.He had seen her file in Orochimaru’s documents, but her fate had been an open question. Funny, for all the noise that Kakashi had made about his treason, he had allowed a woman like Anko to ingratiate herself within his inner circle.

Orochimaru would have been beside himself with glee.But Sasuke was not Orochimaru, would never _be_ Orochimaru, and instead was only resigned.If this was an assassination attempt, it was a poor one. 

Anko did not quite meet his eyes, opting to steer Naruto towards the current headquarters of the guard.Sasuke was not invited, but that did not stop him from attending.He followed silently, his gaze trained on Anko’s back.If she moved to strike Naruto, he would have his blade through her throat in an instant.

There was one thing obvious in the sharp pillar of her spine: she would not be an ally. 

Kakashi’s makeshift office was in the heart of the building that housed the barracks.Sasuke could not escape thoughts of Sakura as Anko led them through the city to the building.How her face had crumpled when he had revealed the truth.How she had fled. 

She had not bothered to accuse him of lies or falsifying evidence.It would have been futile, in either case.Sasuke did not deal in lies, not when the truth was just as an effective weapon.The honest nature of a person, laid bare to the world, could be just as poisonous as any lie.

“ _Humans are such fickle creatures, Sasuke”,Orochimaru’s voice was a low hiss in his memories. “They crave beautiful lies and will hate you for giving them the truth that they claim to seek.”_

“You look like you’ve eaten a lemon,” Naruto said in a low, joking tone.Sasuke realized that at thoughts of Orochimaru, he had reduced himself to scowling.Schooling his expression, Sasuke said: “What does Kakashi want?”

The Knight-Captain of the Guard, their former mentor, had never cared for politics.Or, he had not cared for games of power when they had been young.In those days he had loudly proclaimed his disinterest for anything more than long naps and reading.That disdain had extended to include his own students.But many things had changed in the last four years.

Sasuke could not stop considering the ways that disdain had transformed.Kakashi seemed to ignore Naruto, for all that he was his monarch.He openly distrusted Sasuke (although Sasuke would have been disappointed at anything less).

But there was no disdain for Sakura.Somehow she had seduced Kakashi, had drawn him in, the way a flame enchants the moth.And she didn’t even know it. 

For a man in a mask, the regard on his face was blatantly naked.When he looked at Sakura it was like a man seeing water for the first time in weeks, like a starving bear ready to descend on the first carcass of spring.And she didn’t _know t_ he power she commanded over him. 

Sasuke had expected weeks of seeding doubts in her mind, but all it had taken a single well-timed strike to turn her against him.Kakashi was twice a fool then.Once to cling so hungrily to his former student and again to make it so easy to convince her of his wickedness. 

Anko opened the door to the office, paving the way for Naruto to meet with the fool himself.To Sasuke’s surprise, she did not stop him as he stepped by her, following his liege.Once Sasuke was in the office, she shut the door behind them both. 

A moment later a click resonated through the wooden walls, locking them in.

“You’re late,” Kakashi, the kingdom’s greatest hypocrite, said.

“You can’t expect me to remember everything,” Naruto snapped back.There was no real defensiveness in his tone.Kakashi could and did expect the king to manage his own schedule. 

And based on the way Naruto shifted uncomfortably in his place, he also expected it of himself. 

“Sit,” he gestured for Naruto to take pride of place in the plush chair meant for noble visitors.“You aren’t my concern, regardless.I brought you here under false pretenses.”Kakashi’s gaze locked on Sasuke, piercing intensity skewering the young man.The impact was in no way lessened by the fact that only one of his eyes was visible—the stolen Sharingan hidden by a dark eye patch.

Sasuke froze under the weight of that gaze, suddenly a young page once again.

“My business is with your Champion.I only want you to bear witness to it.So that it cannot be said that no one else was present when I learned the truth about Sasuke Uchiha.”

Kakashi’s growl was a low snarl.So different from the way he conducted himself in public, so different than the way he presented himself for his new protegee, Sakura. 

“I suppose I should be surprised,” Sasuke replied drolly.“Although the only thing I’m surprised by is how long it took you to work up the nerve.” If Kakashi could have hissed, he would have.“People are dead, Sasuke. And I am thin on suspects.” 

“I believe we all witnessed the Akatsuki attack,” Sasuke said, keeping his voice smooth.“Unless there is another attack you are concerned about?”

Kakashi’s answer was a withering glare that had even Naruto shrinking in his seat.“Are you telling me you have heard no news of the attacks on the border?That you, as Champion. as the king’s sworn sword hand, _you_ were completely ignorant to the massacres occurring under your very nose?”The wintery strike of each of Kakashi’s syllables was damnation. 

Damn.He had overplayed his hand.This conversation was growing out Sasuke’s control, into something that could spark a greater blaze than the one that had claimed the castle.It was inevitable, he had known that fact.But Sasuke had never expected it would happen this quickly.Kakashi had scarcely been back from his jaunt to Sunagakure, and he had come back spitting venom. 

He had assumed Sakura would not have spoken to Kakashi yet.Despite the fact that she was driven by her emotions, she kept her plans close to her chest.Unless he had truly misjudged the nature of their relationship, Sakura would never come right out and discuss her fears with Kakashi.She was too independent.Instead, she would craft some wretched plan, make a tangle of it, and play right into his hands. 

It was part of why he had chosen her as one of his first targets.

“Is this personal for you, Kakashi?”Sasuke snapped.“Are you angry I chose a different master?One less fettered by duty and honor, one who wasn’t afraid to look power in the face?”

“ _Every day you become more like me.”_ Orochimaru seemed to mock from the recesses of Sasuke’s mind.“ _One day you’ll look in the mirror and be unable to tell us apart.And what will all your pretty sword tricks have gotten you then?”_

Sasuke wanted to snap at the man to be silent, but it was no use.There was no point in arguing with the dead.

“You never were a good student, Sasuke,” Kakashi said, flashing Sasuke a dark glare.“You were always too assured of your own genius to listen to your betters.I doubt Orochimaru fared any better than the rest of us who extended a hand out for you.” 

“He got what he earned,” Sasuke replied. 

“Betrayal?That seems to be all you have to offer these days.Have you sufficiently prepared Naruto for the day you’ll turn on him?” 

Naruto jolted at that, sitting straight in his chair and opening his mouth to speak. 

“Not now, Naruto,” Kakashi snapped. 

Hurt flooded Naruto’s blue eyes, decorated with shock.He had never seen Kakashi behave in this manner.Nor, for that matter, had Sasuke.

The cool part of Sasuke, the part of him that sounded worryingly like Orochimaru, practically purred with delight. _Here_ was something interesting.Kakashi Hatake, the pinnacle of all that was knightly, the face of Konoha’s guards, _could_ be ruled by emotion.In matters of state and politics, he _could_ slip up and play his hand too quickly. 

He had noted the naked emotion in Kakashi’s gaze as he pined after Sakura, but Sasuke had been too slow to realize that she was not his single weakness.The impassive, untouchable Kakashi Hatake could be rattled. 

And something about Sasuke’s return had indeed rattled him, hitting some deep vein of injury. 

“If you’ve called me out here to fling petty accusations at my feet, you’re wasting your breath,” Sasuke said.The cool register of his voice cut only added to the tension of the room, the insult in it plain for all to see.“The laws of Konoha don’t allow you to arrest me without evidence.And if you decide to throw them aside, who _will_ follow them?”

Kakashi’s single eye was like flint.His mask covered the rest of his face, but Sasuke did not doubt the Knight-captain’s mouth was twisted in a scowl. 

“Unless you mean to challenge me to a duel?” Sasuke continued.He had control of the conversation for now, but Kakashi had touched on too many dangerous topics.He was too close to the truth. 

“I don’t resort to such things,” Kakashi said, shifting tone to a casual, indifferent air.No doubt he meant to unsettle Sasuke, to keep him off balance by making him think the moment of passion was done.To trick him into believing that the cool, competent Knight-Captain was back in command. Sasuke knew better.

“No you would rather leave such things to Sakura,” he said. 

The instant the words landed, Sasuke knew had pushed things too far.At the mention of Sakura’s name, Kakashi’s eyebrows shot up, and he leaned back in his chair. 

“What are you implying?” he said, his tone playful.All the more dangerous.Sasuke was losing control of the flow of the conversation.He couldn’t allow Kakashi to ask the questions; that would give him the power. 

“You seem content to let her fight your battles these days,” Sasuke continued, presenting his case.“Challenging Danzo outright, rescuing Tsunade.” 

He had seen her on the ramparts that day, in the chaos of the coronation.Had seen her standing next to Tsunade, engulfed in an unchecked blaze, bow aimed at the death god known as Hidan.But if Kakashi was bothered by this implication, he did not show it on his face.Silently, he let Sasuke speak, waiting for the moment he said too much. 

“ _Never share too much with your opponent.Make them talk, and let them hang themselves.”_ Orochimaru, again, this time over chess.He could almost feel the drafts of the ruined castle at the heart of Otogakure.The hair rose at the back of his neck as he realized the ways he failed where Orochimaru had not.

Sasuke had to end this conversation, and he had to end it quickly.His words were stretched too thin, and Kakashi was gaining too much as he watched Sasuke dance to end the confrontation.He hated to use information too soon, but Kakashi was leaving him no choice. 

“Perhaps you aren’t as hung up on honor and chivalry as they say,” he finally said, unleashing his final blow.It was all the ammunition he had.After this, he would be forced to play defensive.“Who knew the great Kakashi Hatake could be tempted by such a fumbling seduction.”

In the long, silent moment that stretched beyond his words, Sasuke knew his words had struck true.

Kakashi rose from his chair. 

He grabbed his blade from where it hung on the wall behind him. 

He turned to face Sasuke and his king.

He raised his blade, pointing it at Sasuke’s throat.

Sasuke could almost feel the heat of the words on Kakashi’s tongue as he readied the ancient challenge.Kakashi would call for a duel, to satisfy his sense of honor and fight for the defense of Sakura.But he could see that it was not only a matter of chivalry and noblesse oblige, Sasuke’s words had struck deep into sensitive emotional flesh. 

A part of him was surprised at how far Kakashi was ready to take this.There was no doubt in his mind that it would have led to bloodshed, had Naruto not spoken up. 

“Enough,” Naruto said, his voice booming with authority.Gone was the rash and feckless boy.He stood between Kakashi and Sasuke, facing his Champion.Sasuke could see in the stern cut of his face that he would not be brushed aside or ignored.He had used this tone once before, in the midst of the tournament when Kakashi had called for Sasuke’s arrest.

But most preposterously, most crushingly, Sasuke saw disappointment in Naruto’s gaze, directed in his direction. Something in Sasuke’s chest crumbled at the sight, only to be transfigured into something wearily like resentment.

 _“_ I will not have you insult Sakura’s honor,” Naruto said.He did not turn his eyes away until Sasuke relented with a solemn nod.Then, satisfied that his Champion was properly chastened, he turned on Kakashi. 

“Sasuke is not a traitor.His victory at the tournament wiped away his crimes, as is written in Konoha law as ancient as the sword at my hip.Or do you dare challenge that law?”

“No Your Majesty,”Kakashi said.The title came out seemingly unbidden. 

“Do you have evidence that suggests Sasuke has committed new treason?” 

The flint in Kakashi’s gaze grew sharp as he looked away from his king and in the direction of Sasuke Uchiha. 

“Not yet, Your Majesty.” 

“Then our business here is concluded,” Naruto said.He turned his gaze on Sasuke once more, all reproach gone.The warmth in that expression heated something in Sasuke’s core. 

_He loves you, you know._ Shikamaru, this time.Orochimaru was not the only unwelcome interloper in Sasuke’s thoughts it seemed. 

Sasuke shook that thought away.What did Shikamaru know of love and desire?Naruto was nothing but a fool, easy to manipulate, and useful when given the right parameters. 

Naruto gestured for Sasuke to follow him out of the office.All the while, he held his head high and did not look back at Kakashi. His displeasure with the Knight-Captain was plain in every inch of his body.Sasuke obeyed the silent command, unable to resist the gravitational pull of Naruto’s aura.Sasuke could not help but feel a sense of relief.Perhaps even gratitude for Naruto’s quick action.Naruto owed him no rescue, and yet it had been freely given.The conversation was over, not through Sasuke’s action but by Naruto’s rescue.

He had chosen to participate in the tournament because he knew that if he won, Naruto could not hold him to account for his crimes.It would be his immunity, giving him the position to do his work despite a lack of trust. 

And yet, when he had returned it had been like nothing had occurred between them. As though Sasuke had never left, as though they had never fought a wretched battle on the ruins of Konoha’s founding. 

The sight of Naruto’s face on the dais of the tournament, eyes shining with relief and joy, demanding that Kakashi put a stop to his arrest, had sent a wave of some terrible unknown emotion washing over him.At the crest of it had been the feeling of homecoming, of comfort. 

It had taken work to kill that feeling.He had carefully strangled it, letting that comfort die as he reminded himself of his true purpose.

 _He loves you, you know._ Shikamaru’s words threatened to undo all that work.

When they had finally left the barracks, and reached the bright streets of Konoha’s capital, Naruto rounded on him.He grabbed Sasuke by the arm, pulling him into the very alley where his confrontation with Sakura had taken place.

“Are you planning on betraying me?” he asked, ever direct. 

“No,” Sasuke said. 

He would not betray Naruto.

Konoha was another matter.The realm and its history were his true enemy.

Naruto’s face was a ripple of relief before his eyes grew dark again.“Kakashi doesn’t believe you.He sees you as a threat.” 

He took a long look at Sasuke’s face, and in the cool autumn shadows, Sasuke could feel his chest fill with deep penetrating heat. 

“And you are a threat, aren’t you?” 

Whatever Sasuke had expected it had not been this.He had thought of Naruto as a useful idiot, blind to his flaws. 

But in Naruto’s sharpened expression, he could see that the King could _see_ him.All of him. 

Then Naruto stepped forward, putting a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder.His expression went slack, and the heat of his body radiated against Sasuke.His lips parted, curving into words, before hesitation hit him and he seemed to think better of it.

“You need to be careful,” was what he settled on instead. 

Some weak, baser part of Sasuke, some ancient instinct, some ravenous yearning, was desperate to know what Naruto had planned to say.He could press him, draw Naruto in close, and cup a hand under his chin and ask.Naruto’s defenses would never last under such an advance.

_He loves you, you know._

Perhaps the words had a different meaning.Perhaps he could use them against Naruto, turn that love (if, indeed, it existed) into a tool.

His mouth went dry at the thought.Something about it was too abhorrent, even for one such as he.

“Yes, your majesty,” was all Sasuke said.

Naruto knitted his brows in confusion; Sasuke never used that title.But something he saw in Sasuke’s face stopped him from pressing it further. 

They stood on a ledge, and the faintest breath of wind could send them both tumbling over the edge.

Naruto seemed to sense it too.Perhaps that was why he did what he did next.Perhaps even he knew that if they crossed that threshold there would be no going back.He pressed a hand to Sasuke’s shoulder, where his neck met the flesh on his neck.The King’s thumb traced the curve of Sasuke’s adam’s apple before he drew his hand away.Sasuke’s gaze had narrowed to the curve of his parted lips. 

Then, just as abruptly, Naruto turned away, and said, “you should take the afternoon off.I can protect myself.” And then, as if to punctuate his words, he patted the sword at his hip. 

Before Sasuke could argue, Naruto disappeared. 

Sasuke could track him easily.But he did not follow.He let Naruto, his king, his liege, disappear into the labyrinth of the city he ruled.He was too occupied with thoughts of what it would mean if they had taken the wrong move, had let themselves fall, recklessly down that cliff's edge.

(It would change nothing.Sasuke swore it to himself.)

* * *

Sasuke could not stay in Konoha.That much was plain.With Kakashi’s increased scrutiny, he could not afford to remain in the city.It would only be a matter of time before Kakashi put a tail on him, and that would be the end. 

His cover would be blown. 

But it was not fear of discovery that drove Sasuke to the stables, pulling his horse from its stall and preparing its stable.It was not Kakashi’s leering gaze that he saw when he shut his eyes, pausing between moments of packing. 

It was Naruto, inches from his face.Naruto’s blue eyes rounded in surprise and hurt.Naruto’s hand driving the dagger in his chest, his eyes narrowed with fury.With Naruto’s hand on his throat, he had come too close to crumbling. 

Sasuke rode out of the city like he could leave such thoughts behind.He would return, eventually, but he would need time to gather his forces.He needed _time._

Perhaps it was the Sharingan that gave Kakashi the vision to see beyond what Sasuke sought so hard to conceal.He had stolen the Uchiha birthright, but he knew nothing of the Uchiha bloodlines destiny. 

No one in Konoha truly knew the debt they owed to the Uchiha family.Their safety was paid for in Uchiha blood, their prosperity in Uchiha lives. 

But this history was hidden from the world.Even Sasuke had not known the truth until he had uncovered it in Orochimaru’s records, long after his mentor's death.

“ _You don’t even know the truth”,_ _Orochimaru said as blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.“You talk of Konoha and return, but you don’t even know what it’s taken from you.”_

Sasuke had killed him all the same, but it had stilled his hand for a moment.More importantly, it had spurred him into research, an investigation that had taken him into the dustiest tomes at the bottom of Orochimaru’s ruined castle.

It had been last midwinter, as the full moon hung red and heavy in the sky, that Sasuke had finally uncovered the truth.Beneath the gaze of this bloody eye, Sasuke had found the truth of the mass grave that Konoha rested on.

The grave of his Uchiha forbears.Konoha’s fate: bought and paid for, every three generations, by a blood sacrifice.Strengthening the wards that kept its ancient sins at bay.

Sasuke rode faster, suddenly unable to block off the sound of the revenants of his ancestry, calling for justice.He kicked his black horse, Susanoo, into a rampaging gallop, charging the horizon. 

It wasn’t until he was miles away from the northern border, in the frigid Kingdom of Mist, that he realized he was not alone. 

The Kingdom of Mist had long been infiltrated by the Akatsuki.It was their territory, the seat of their power, more than it belonged to any king.And he had not entered their lands unobserved.Sasuke was forced to slow, his progress hampered by the roots of frozen and shriveled trees.Autumn had passed this country by, driving it straight into the cold embrace of winter. 

Sasuke was never a man to flee from conflict.He had been preparing to face his brother for years, since the day that the Uchiha family had paid their bloody price yet again.The day he had become just another cog on an endless cycle of violence and loss. 

The day Itachi had failed to finish his duty.

Itachi Uchiha, Konoha’s most reviled son, appeared before Sasuke in a dark cacophony of wingbeats.He stood out from the white graveyard of trees like a thumbprint of blood on sheets. 

“Have you finally come to finish what you’ve started?” Sasuke asked outright.There was no space for idle niceties between the brothers. 

Itachi only cast him one long, disparaging look.“You’ve chosen a path I would not walk,” he said, his voice the cool monotone of a revenant.The earth seemed to blight beneath his feet, dark patches of earth appearing in melted snow.Lines of corruption melted through the frost, like infection coursing through a vein.

“Well, you’ve done a lot of things I wouldn’t.”Sasuke snapped.His hands itched to grab at his sword, to start their battle, to finally bring this to an end.But he had trained as a warrior, and he knew that it was foolish to launch an attack too soon.There was value in patience, even if it rankled.He cast a surveying eye on the landscape, imagining it as a battleground between them.“What do you want?”He demanded.

“I’ve come to give you a warning.”

Sasuke snorted at that, even as he only half-listened.In his first attack on Konoha, when Tsunade had made the foolish choice of revealing her true nature, Itachi had displayed powers Sasuke beyond imagination.Appearing from nowhere, casting illusions to that it seemed he moved faster than any mortal could.Even Sasuke, poor sorcerer that hew as, could sense that Itachi had not yet shown the true depths of his power.The trees would give Itachi too much cover.They cast too many shadows, created too many blindspots, for his brother to appear and disappear. 

If they fought here, Itachi would emerge the victor.

“Carry on then,” Sasuke said, growing impatient.Let him give his warning and leave.Sasuke had no great wish to die yet—there was too much work undone.When it was over, then he could fight his losing battle against Itachi.

“I began Konoha’s doom,” Itachi said.His voice suddenly seemed to boom across the trees, as though invoking words of ancient ritual.“But you have only hastened it.I can see you think that this is some new future, but I promise you: you will not like the results.It is only more of the same old bloody crimson.”

Sasuke spat on the ground between them, his teeth a release of scornful air.“You can’t even begin to imagine what I have begun.” 

Itachi’s dark eyes were wide and mournful as he took in the sight of his younger brother.Sasuke could bear the pity in his gaze no more.Damn the consequences. 

He unsheathed his blade, slashing at Itachi’s breast. 

Itachi hovered for a moment, allowing the blade to pass through him.Sasuke waited for the corresponding blow, the strike of revenge. 

It did not come. 

Worse than an onslaught of violence was the continued sympathy in his brother’s gaze.Itachi shook his head once, disappointment writ large across the lines of his jaw. There was no damage to his clothes, no blood seeping from the wound in his chest.

“You don’t understand,” he said.Each syllable was a condemnation.

“Maybe I never will,” Sasuke shot back. 

Then, Itachi disappeared in a flurry of wings and feathers, leaving Sasuke alone.As he always had.

* * *

Sasuke did not stop again for three days.He rode until he had passed across the border of Kingdom of Mist, into the lands of the former Otogakure.Here the land had become blighted, from the high price of magic to run through it.

Orochimaru’s relentless innovation had laid the groundwork for the desolation that had come to the land, but now it had multiplied.Even since Sasuke’s last departure, the line of withered trees seemed to extend further than his memories. 

Sasuke only finally slowed when he reached the dark ruined castle at the heart of the kingdom.For all his genius and his thirst for knowledge, he had not known the bounty that laid hidden in the shadow of his territory.

How could he have known that Konoha’s bones lay beneath this foreign, forgotten stronghold?He had been too preoccupied with his own theorems, for all the good they got him in the end. 

_“I knew you would come home to me,” Orochimaru’s voice seemed to hiss at the base of his skull.He could almost feel the curl of the man’s fingers on his wrists, drawing him into another lesson on power and sorcery._

Sasuke left his horse to graze along the yellowed grass of what passed as pasture here.Yellow clumps of withered grass fought its way out of the dark, ashy dirt.It was just enough to provide his horse with needed sustenance.

Orochimaru had explained the desolation to him once.Magic that extended beyond the natural capabilities of the sorcerer demanded a cost.The truly shrewd could pull from others, but the land always gave their work away.It had not mattered to Orochimaru that the land killed itself for his works.What was petty death in the face of miracles?

It was why Sasuke never extended his power beyond his own body.It was too revealing, too demanding, for the meager battle magic he required. 

He would not be like Itachi, distributing blight with every step. 

Sasuke ascended the steps of the castle to the highest tower.The stone staircase barely stood intact.If it was traveled more than once a month, it would never have withstood such wear and tear.But there was no need for servants here. No need for banquets and twinkling parties, no need for masses of courtiers lurking in corners spreading gossip like a disease. 

At the heart of the great tower sat the king of this castle, the dark lord of the western shores of Konoha, forgotten king of the Uchiha lands.Covered by his shroud of shadows, Sasuke could not make out a face.But Sasuke could feel the dark glint of malice in the air, the aura of malevolent intent. 

The progenitor of the Uchiha clan, Madra Uchiha, spoke in grave tones.

“Why have you returned to me?”

It was the sound of a winter wind whipping through the cliffside of Konoha, the roar of an avalanche tumbling down the side of snow-smothered peaks, the howling call of the starving wolf summoning his brothers to the slaughter.

Sasuke Uchiha knelt before his true master.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke Uchiha: "I think I will cause problems on purpose."


	20. xviii. each preying on the other

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are on the downward slope!!!!!!!!! I am SO excited for the next..... thirteen....chapters to come!!! This fic has become something very different than what I originally planned, but the things I *DID* plan for are finally starting to come into place. I am busier than I expected, but I am sloooowly chipping away!! (ESPECIALLY because I have gotten to THE PARTS I HAVE BEEN DREAMING ABOUT SINCE MARCH!!!!) But we are close enough to the end that I can "accurately" estimate how many chapters are left!!! (please don't...let that be hubris). 
> 
> Thank you again for reading and all your well wishes in the comments~!

xviii. each preying on the other

Despite the progress of Konoha’s reconstruction, and the ways in which the wounds of the battle had healed, a faint scent of rot seemed to permeate the air.It was the turning of the seasons, a season for change and contemplation.And Kakashi Hatake could not figure out where he had failed so completely.

There had been a time when he thought Konoha might heal from the tragedies of Tsunade’s death, and the change would force Naruto into becoming a true king, ready to unite the realm.But everywhere he turned, the cracks seemed to show just beneath skin.

He saw Naruto’s desolation before he knew the truth. Sasuke was gone.Blame punctuated every glance Naruto shot in his direction.For it had been after their confrontation that the traitor had turned and fled.No one knew where he had gone.The last person to witness his departure had been Naruto, but the young king swore up and down that he had no idea where the Champion had disappeared to. 

Kakashi himself had led the interrogation (if you could call it that).It had bee over beers in Naruto’s private quarters, a new dimension to the relationship he had with his former student.(Although Kakashi could practically hear Sasuke in his head, accusing him of changing _all_ of his relationships with his students). 

From the devastation writ large across his face, Kakashi could see plainly that he was not lying.Naruto could never fake the devastation in his wide blue eyes, and the harsh way his smile became a tiny bitter thing and he said, “I blame myself as much as I do you.”

Despite the way the actors had changed, it was the same play he had witnesses four years prior.

Sasuke was the same angry young man, with a dark streak of anger and a penchant for betrayal.The only difference was that now he was older and more secretive, and now his secret schemes could tear a kingdom apart.Naruto was the same reckless vein of emotion, a furious storm of emotion utterly unchecked.But now he was an adult and a king, his emotions catalyzed into sharp steel, and Kakashi could only hold his breath and wait to see what Naruto would do with his newfound power.

But Sakura. 

Something in Sakura had changed. 

The first time Sasuke had disappeared, she had been a girl in love.She had disappeared from Kakashi’s life completely, throwing herself into her studies with Tsunade. But his final glimpse of her had been bright green eyes filled with tears and a smile cut like jagged broken glass.But there had been a fire there, burning with determination to never be left behind again. 

Now she had transformed again.Gone was that fire when she looked at him, now.The few times he could manage to catch sight of her, she barely spared him a look.She threw himself into her work with the other squires, lending their carpentry “skills” to the rebuilding effort.That last confrontation between them had shattered something, and as the days grew long, Kakashi feared it was beyond repair. 

He wanted to go to her, to take her in his arms, and kiss this hidden sadness out of her.It was now as he watched her work, he cursed himself for his idiocy.The invisible barriers that had sprung between them were exactly what he deserved.

Kakashi took to stalking the city walls, surveying the great forest that fenced them in, where he and Sakura had conducted their affair.Where the days had seemed to last forever, and he had hoped against hope, even as he swore it would not continue, that such happiness could stretch beyond their journey. 

Death nipped at his heels and duty called him to action.The realm could be his only mistress.It needed him as Sakura did not (for all he sprung to fight her battles).She deserved someone who could devote his entirety to her.She deserved someone who did not bring death with every touch, ending the lives of those who brushed too closely into his life.

She deserved better than Kakashi. 

And he could never earn her, not when his hands were stained with blood; the hearts-blood of the realm, of his friends, of Rin. 

Even the thought of his old friend’s name made his eyes close, as though he could face the world no longer.Here, high in the ramparts, the wind ruffled his white hair, swallowing the sounds of rebuilding and planning.Up here, it was easy to forget all that tied him to the realm.All that he woke up every morning, all that he lived for. 

But the wind also brought him fragments of phrases.Divorced from speaker and context, but clear as though Shikamaru leaned next to him and whispered: “you know Sasuke’s right.”

Kakashi’s eyes whipped open.

As if the ice in his veins had frozen him in place, Kakashi stood rooted to that spot on the walls, waiting for more.

“You think he’s planning something.”A higher-pitched voice—Ino.She was often his partner in crime, although they no longer worked on the same squad as they did as pages.There was a pause, as though she waited for confirmation.Then, “You _know_ he’s planning something and you’ve offered to help.Even if it’s treason.” 

“It’s already treason to let Danzo run around, calling the shots.”Choji, the third in their little band. 

At the coronation, there had been a division between the squires.He had seen it clear, as day, the number that stood on Sasuke’s side at the coronation.Even then, the symbolism had been hard to miss.But now, with Sasuke gone, his effect still lingered.His venom had taken hold amongst the very thing meant to ensure Konoha’s future: its future knights.

Whatever Sasuke planned, he had gained Shikamaru’s trust.Such a thing was a hard-won prize, and it pained Kakashi to think of the work Sasuke must have done.While Ino might be brash and reckless, and Choji something of a blind-loyalist, Shikamaru only threw his lot in with the winning side.He was too prudent to risk his life for anything less than victory. 

Slowly, Kakashi edged towards the sound of the voices.He finally spotted them, below the wooden ledge of the ramparts, only a few meager feet beneath the soles of Kakashi’s boots.He could see the tops of their heads through the cracks in the blank: a trio of schemers still dressed for a morning of sparring. 

They were fools to discuss such things here, where anyone could stumble upon them.It was a common mistake of too much intellect combined with too little experience, the folly of young genius.Surely Shikamaru thought that because they were far from the center of the city, where the knights and nobles held the most sway, no one of import would hear them. 

“If we just let things stand, think of who’s next on the chopping block. It could be any of us.”Shikamaru again.There was a wheedling tone in his voice, as he sought to bring Ino around to his point. 

“He’ll single out anyone who was too close to Tsunade,” Choji said, with no tact to soften the blow.“We all know who’s next.” 

It was a threat meant for Ino’s ears.In the form of murmured secrets, Sakura had shared some of their youthful misadventures.She had spoken fondly of those days, a barefoot childhood spent running wild on the outskirts of town with her best friend. 

Kakashi could see the slump of Ino’s shoulders as she took in Choji’s meaning.But it was Kakashi who the words pierced like an arrow.He had suggested exactly the same to Sakura once, to warn her off the chase and remind her of what was at risk.But it had seemed an abstract then, just one of many things to be concerned about.Now, hearing it become common knowledge, the risk solidified like mortar between bricks. 

“So we join him,” Ino said.Her voice was resignation and regret. 

“If we have to,” Shikamaru said again.“There’s no point in swearing loyalty to a new kind of Danzo.”

It was not a vow of loyalty to Konoha, but something worse.A declaration of independence. 

The cracks in Konoha’s foundation ran deep, deeper than any ruined castle.That Naruto had failed, so completely at winning over the hearts and minds of his peers was a black mark on the horizon. 

No, it was not Naruto’s failing alone.It was Kakashi who had failed.Kakashi and perhaps even Tsunade, who had allowed the kingdom to become a place run by a petty tyrant, determined to spread ruin over everyone who might oppose him.

Sakura had been right.She had been right to challenge Danzo to that duel.Worse, he had always known it.Kakashi had known Danzo was dangerous from the early months.He had known it when they had returned from Sunagakure and seen the damage one man had wrought. No, even earlier.It had been obvious that Danzo was a danger when he had asked Sai to take Sakura’s life.

And Kakashi had let it go.

This moment, three squires on the cusp of knighthood and their inheritance as Konoha’s first line of defense, discussing Sasuke and treason and Danzo, solidified the truth.Kakashi could trace the lines of decay spreading from Danzo, to Sasuke, to this one horrible moment, where he faced his two options.

The first was to let them go, in violation of his duty, to allow them the license to do as they saw fit.

Or he could do the unthinkable.He could order their arrest and interrogation.

No matter that he had cared little for the trio’s education, no matter that he was Knight-Captain of the Guard, and he would be duty and honor-bound to uphold the law. 

He couldn’t do this anymore. 

When he had taken his post as Knight-Captain he had taken an oath to uphold the laws of the realm and keep its peace.With that fork in the road before him, Kakashi knew he would choose the peace of the realm every time.

He would not allow his duty to lead him down a path to death.Not again.

He would not lose Sakura the way he had lost Rin.

* * *

Sakura Haruno was out of time.The key to Danzo’s door still eluded her, as did the secrets he kept hidden behind it. 

The castle’s construction was almost complete.Tomorrow, Naruto would grandly announce that the fear and terror of the attack was over.They would open the doors to the way their lives had once been lived.The most pathetic part of it all was that Naruto wouldn’t even believe it himself.Not as he was still visibly reeling from Sasuke’s disappearance. After that, when the castle was complete and everyone returned to their homes and their daily lives, it would be impossible to gain access to Danzo’s secret rooms. 

Sakura’s hand was forced.She had to reveal the truth about Danzo before he could assert more control.He had made it plain that he would never allow her to progress to knighthood, and this could be her only chance to counter his attack.If she didn’t he would certainly have her ‘taken care of’.

It was impossible to stop the unbidden images of her own execution, as they arose amongst her thoughts.Would Kakashi be the one bearing the axe?Would he be the duty-bound guardsman to hand her over to arrest? 

She didn’t want to believe it, couldn’t believe it.But Sasuke’s evidence had been too much to refute. 

Every morning, she told herself that this would be the day that she ended her torment.She would confront Kakashi for the truth, and see, finally, what kind of man he really was.

But then she would imagine the look in his face as he admitted to it.Some mornings, she imagined anguish spreading across his brow, the guilt of sins of the past still heavy on his conscious.Other days, she imagined resignation, his only emotion a mild irritation that his secrets had finally been discovered and he could no longer hide behind a cloak of lies.

The only thing that could possibly be worse than her images of the situations was the thousands of other possibilities, beyond the scope of even her wildest fears.The only thing worse would be the truth.

She was a coward.

Sakura had been sleeping in tents for too long, too exposed to the scrutiny of her peers and the visible judgment of the nobility as they each assessed the squires, gauging the strength of Konoha’s future sword-arm.Her failure to obtain the key itched under her skin.Without it, she had nothing.

As night fell on her final night spent sleeping in tents, Sakura resolved herself for one, final, reckless attempt.She would make the impossible happen.She would force the damn thing open with her own magic.

No one would notice her slipping into the shell that had once been home.The other squires would be too occupied drinking around the fire, celebrating the fruits of their efforts and reveling in an evening without an early morning of drills.Kakashi, if he cared to look at all, would be too occupied scrutinizing tomorrow’s security.No matter what she thought of him, Sakura knew he would never allow a repeat of the chaos of Naruto’s coronation. 

So it was without fear that she slipped out of her tent and into the bustling cobblestone streets.The celebratory mood had infected the whole town.Perhaps they weren’t wrong to seize joy where they could.The coronation had been ruined, and this was a second chance at a celebration before the long cold nights of winter set in. 

Confidence and a well-considered plan lulled Sakura into a false sense of security.A brown cloak provided cover for the pink shock of her hair, but otherwise, she did little to conceal herself.So it should not have been so wretchedly shocking when Ino’s voice called out for her, from somewhere in the background.Sakura ignored the calls of ‘ _Forehead! Hey, forehead!’_ , keeping up her steady pace and hoping Ino would think she had mistaken a stranger for her friend.

“Foreh—Sakura, wait!” The voice picked up a fervent pitch. 

Biting her lip, Sakura finally relented. 

“Finally,” Ino said, returning to her usual brusque manner.There was never a time when Ino didn’t behave as though she had all the answers, but there was something in Ino’s manner that left Sakura curious.Relief crossed her brow, as she took in the sight of Sakura dressed for intrigue.

As though she had been desperate.

“What do you need, Ino?”Sakura tried to shape the words into something that didn’t sound brusque and impatient, but they still sounded too rough on her own ears. 

“Some of us are celebrating early tonight,” Ino said, “Shikamaru has a bottle of liquor from Sunagakure, and we were going to celebrate the end of our little campout.”

“Shouldn’t he be the one sending Temari gifts,” Sakura responded, tartly.She couldn’t help the grin that stretched out across her face at the thought of their romance.“She’s too good for him.”

“That’s what I said,” Ino said, rolling her eyes. 

It was easy, slipping into this friendly give and take.It struck her at that moment that there was a lull in their friendship.Suddenly Sakura could not remember the last time they had bantered like this.Months, it felt like.

The offer suddenly seemed much more tempting.It was an anchor to her old life, a reminder that there were things in the world other than fear and games of power. 

“I-I can’t,” Sakura said.“I have somewhere I need to be.”

Ino cast her a long, investigative glance.Sakura braced herself for questions, realizing she had no story prepared.Her plan had not been built with discovery in mind.If Ino asked her questions, like where, and why, Sakura would have to fumble for believable lies.And Ino would see right through it.

But Ino did not ask any further questions.

“You’ve been distant lately,” Ino said, her voice gentle. 

“Since Tsunade’s…” Sakura let her voice trail off pointedly. 

“No, it started before that,” Ino continued.“Even before Naruto came back, we hardly saw you.”

She had been so busy studying under Tsunade, drawing inward to protect herself and her mentor’s secrets, that Sakura had not noticed the rift.But now, as Ino spoke, she saw it between them, a yawning chasm within their friendship. Even more painfully, she could see it plain that Ino had felt that gap keenly, even if Sakura had been too preoccupied.

Ino was her best friend, and still, Sakura had shared with her nothing.The nature of her lessons were secret by necessity, but in the last month, Sakura’s secrets had compounded and multiplied, extending beyond herself until it seemed that she could not escape them. And not once had she thought to go to her best friend.

“Things changed after we became squires,” Sakura said finally, a faint, feeble excuse. But it was one that Ino had no defense for.Guilt flashed across her friend’s sharp features, as though she weighed the ways in which she too had changed in the last four years.It was not Sakura alone who had let their friendship grow fallow. 

But that did not absolve Sakura.She had been the orchestrator of her own isolation.She had woven herself so completely into Tsunade’s orbit, engrossing herself in lesson after lesson.Only now, did Sakura realize that it had come at a cost. 

When was the last time she had sat around a campfire, mocking the stoic Shikamaru for writing weekly missives to the pretty lady knight from Sunagakure?Or gently trying to draw Hinata from her shell, all while trying to convince her that she was too good for the brash and idiotic Naruto? 

It was a different life, belonging to a different girl.A Sakura who had not thrown herself so fully into chasing power, into chasing after Naruto and Sasuke and their impossible tangled destinies. 

What else had she given up, trying to change her very nature, to become something she was not? 

And what had she gained?

 _Power._ The word whispered through her, a salvation, a reminder.

“Come join us, just this once”Ino pleaded.

Sakura couldn’t. 

This was her only chance to eliminate Danzo, to ensure that someday she _could_ rejoin her peers, and go back to being that easy going girl, who could tease and laugh and think of things other than fear and loss.

“I can’t,” Sakura said.“Maybe… maybe another time.” 

She hoped it sounded true.She _wanted_ it to be true. 

Ino gave her a disappointed little smile, as though she had expected no less.But she didn’t ask any more questions.It was like she knew that Sakura was keeping secrets, and did not challenge the invisible boundary between them. 

“Just be careful,” Ino said, before schooling her face into that usual smug smile.She spared Sakura one last wave, but did not linger for small talk.

Sakura watched Ino disappear into the crowd, a pang of something sharp in her chest. 

Ino had known that she was keeping secrets, but she had not pressed the matter.It hadn’t been a lack of care or interest, there had been no remote detachment in her friend’s face.No, Ino had cared, but she had trusted Sakura enough to let the secret settle between them.

Someday she would tell Ino how much she appreciated that tiny gesture of respect.But now she had work to do. 

* * *

The castle was pitch black.Sakura lofted the candle in front of her, desperately trying to see beyond her circle of light.Somehow, fully constructed but completely empty, the castle was creepier than it had ever been as a ruin.Her footsteps echoed across the new construction, a resounding chorus of mysterious approach. She couldn’t help but peek behind her shoulder, as though she would catch an attacker appearing from the depths of the darkness.

But she was confident that Danzo would not catch her in her investigation.There were no other lights in this place—no one else lurked in the great empty building.She could investigate to her heart's content until dawn cast its judgemental light on her efforts.

The third-floor gallery had once been home to the paintings of Konoha’s kings and queens—massive portraits of severe faces that chronicled the eras of the realm’s history.In the fire, they had been damaged too far to display and were scattered through the various artist studios in the city for repair.Now, their empty golden frames glinted in her candlelight, producing flashes of light in the corner of her eye that made her jump at every corner.

Sakura took the final turn to reach Danzo’s office, not bothering to disguise the sound of her booted footsteps as they resounded off the flagstones.There was no meaning in disguising her presence. 

As she turned that final corner, she immediately saw her mistake. 

A figure in shadow leaned against the door, as though waiting for someone.As though waiting for her.

Sakura jumped back, realizing too late that her candlelight had shown like a lighthouse, giving away her location.It was the only light in the damned place, it’s glow as obvious from across the building. 

She would have no choice but to flee—or fight. 

Sakura drew a knife, extinguishing the candle and waiting for the interloper to approach. 

Their footsteps were slow and confident, as though in no hurry to run Sakura down.She waited, holding her breath as the shadowed figure passed her by.They paid Sakura’s hiding spot no notice, their gaze trained only on the dark corridor ahead.

She did not hesitate. 

Sakura reached up, gripping the figure by the throat and grazing her dagger against delicate skin.She was careful not to puncture—this was still a citizen of Konoha.She only sought to threaten them, as she lowered her voice (with a slight sorcerous assist) and growled: “get out of here if you care to live.”

“I saw your face in that candlelight, Sakura,” Kakashi replied, his tone arch with amusement. 

Sakura released him, jerking her hand away as if burned. 

Was this it?Had he finally decided to turn her in and do his duty to the realm?She summoned an orb of light, not caring if he caught her in this final transgression.He knew of her sorcery, one more criminal act would be meaningless.She needed to see his face, to read his expression.In the end, she could not bear the unknown. 

She had to know what kind of man her lover truly was.

And yet, for all her courage, all her terror, the only thing she earned was a glimpse of Kakashi’s covered face.It was barely visible in the shadows, the lower half of his face covered by dark fabric.His sole, visible, dark eye was curved in the usual amusement as he asked, “up to no good?”

Sakura’s stomach did a flip.“You were expecting me,” she said, clutching her dagger close to her chest.Her fingers curled around it until her knuckles were white.But even as she clutched it, she wondered: what was she going to do with it?If Kakashi did the impossible, if he moved to arrest her, what would she do?She tried to imagine driving it into his chest, his hearts blood smearing across her hands, as she fought—killed—to save her own life.

It was unthinkable.

She couldn’t do it.

Even if it was the only thing that would save her life. 

“Is everyone following my movements tonight?” She said, desperate to vanquish the image.

“You told me your plan,” he said flatly.“I figured this would be your last chance to actually get the thing done.”Sakura cursed her earlier naiveté.She had been so willing to put her faith in him before Sasuke had revealed the truth.It would have been easy for him to deduce the details—after all, there was none still living that knew her better. 

“And you’ve come to stop me?”She said. 

Kakashi winced.“I’ve come to help.”He lofted a glinting piece of metal before him, swinging upon a leather string.It took her a moment to register that it was a key, simply carved of iron.“Is that-“

“It turns out Danzo isn’t careful with his things, not when he thinks he’s already won.I searched his rooms while he was meeting with Naruto.Its a pity I gave him the chance to spit venom into the King’s ear for an hour, but I imagine this will resolve the issue.”

Something warm grew in Sakura’s chest.

Hope. 

“Why are you helping me?”She asked, the words strangled and breathless.“I thought your duty came first.”

“I-“ he stopped himself.Then, with a furious certainty, he pulled his mask down, baring himself to her scrutiny.The warm orange glow lit the fine cheekbones of his face, emphasizing the sensuous curve of his mouth and the perfect, straight line of his nose. 

“My duty is to the realm.My duty is to you.” 

At the words, she wanted to bring her fingers to brush the brown spot that rested just below his lips.To draw him close to her and feel the invisible bristle of his stubble against the skin of her cheeks. 

But he had made that promise once before.How could she trust it?He swore himself to the realm as easily as he swore himself to her, a dual, incompatible mandate. 

“And if I am a criminal?”She said in no more than a whisper, the words almost silent as they passed from her lips. 

Kakashi reached forward, the key’s leather cord still tangled in his fingers.He gripped both her hands in his own, and drew them to his lips, never breaking eye contact.

“Then it is the law that is wrong,” he said.His gaze pierced through her, as though he could read every doubt upon her face.“I told you once before, _you_ are my duty.A kingdom that demands I put aside my humanity does not deserve my honor.”

Then, so softly she barely felt it, he placed a kiss on her fingertips.Although they had barely touched, she felt as though her fingers might burn with how much she wanted to tangle them in his silver hair.Instead, she guided his hands down, unwilling to let go, despite the turmoil within. 

She should ask him about Rin.She should demand proof that he wouldn’t turn on her, make him swear an oath upon his thrice-damned honor. 

But behind the intensity in Kakashi’s gaze, and the certainty in his words, there was anguish.And there was a narrowed, focused, heartbreaking certainty. 

As if he had lost once, and learned from his mistakes.

She could not bring herself to ask.She wanted the nearness of him, needed an ally so keenly that the thought of pushing him away, of proving him false, was too terrible to face.Instead she let Kakashi place the iron key in her hands, and she let herself believe him as he said, “let’s go together.”

Because in the end, she was also a coward.

* * *

Kakashi could not draw his gaze away from the cut of Sakura’s shoulders in the dark of Danzo’s office. He had not known what had come over him, there in the hall.He had meant to tell her everything, to explain what he had seen with Shikamaru and Ino, to warn her of the coming storm in Konoha. 

Instead, he had poured his heart out to her, forswearing the kingdom and his position, vowing himself to her.He had said too much in the cave, but that had been a moment of dire circumstance when it had seemed that he would never get the chance to see the sun again.They had not spoken of what it had meant, in the days that had followed.Before it had been a matter of negotiating the terms of their brief relationship; when he thought the fever might break and he would be able to let her go.

When he thought there might be room in his life for both duty and love. 

Love.The word was saccharine, overused.The stuff of poetry and songs and fiction.People threw it around in every story, as though it meant something the more you said it. 

It was a word he never thought had any bearing on him.

Kakashi had not forced Sakura to bear the truth of the danger she was in.A key was not the only thing Kakashi had found in Danzo’s office.When he had seen the papers on Danzo’s desk, Kakashi had felt more than he had ever thought possible.The edges of his vision had gone dark, and his chest had seemed to collapse in on itself.

Danzo had drafted the writ for Sakura’s arrest.The only thing left was Naruto’s signature. 

As he had burned the papers, Kakashi had imagined a world without Sakura.He had imagined her arrest, her execution.

He would never allow it. 

It had nothing to do with his principles or his belief of how the kingdom should be run.It was the thought of Sakura, afraid.In danger.The very idea was agony.He knew then, that he would walk through hell to stop it.

If that was not love, what else could it be?

But Kakashi would never burden her with something so trifling. 

She did not deserve the burden of his emotions.It would be a secret transgression.When their relationship had started, they had given themselves until the end of their journey home.She would move on with her life, to the happiness she really deserved.So long as she was safe and happy, that would be enough for him.

Sakura produced the key with a flourish, before sliding it into its slot.Then she spared him a sidelong glance, as if to say _watch this_.He would never tell her, but she always did the same thing, even as a page.Just before pulling off some intricate display of swordsmanship, or mastering a piece of trick riding that Naruto and Sasuke could not, she had thrown Kakashi such a look.And then she grinned. 

That smile had transformed over the years, from one young page’s accomplished pride to the rightful confidence of a knight of the realm.Now, Kakashi could not look away from her smile’s radiance.The orange glow of Sakura’s magic illuminated her face, turning the pink tones of her hair into a sunset’s masterpiece. 

He wanted to reach out and take him in her arms, to tell her once again what a marvel she was.A daughter of merchants, with no power, no history behind her families name had risen to _this._ Fearless, fierce, bold, heir to Tsunade’s power, rightful champion of the realm. 

_If that was not love…_

He held his tongue.The only concession he granted himself was the brush of his hand on her shoulder. 

Then, the door to Danzo’s secrets swung wide. 


	21. xix. you may see the world around you devastated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much again for all your comments!!! 
> 
> So I'm not sure about content tagging conventions for things that aren't traditionally considered Content Warning fare. I just feel like I should give a heads up to say this chapter is fairly heavy on death. Also, this particular arc is the one that I was thinking of when I wrote that note a few weeks ago asking you guys to trust me... As I said before, there are another 12 chapters left and I am also fully cognizant of the contract I've made as a writer with the kind of story I have told up till this point. 
> 
> Okay, that's a pretty vague, confusing warning. Anyway, this chapter is a Bummer. Enjoy?

xix. you may see the world around you devastated

The door had opened to a narrow spiral stairway, that curved around stone walls and lead them down, into the bowels of the castle’s structure.There were no windows, no source of light except for the orange glow of Sakura’s magic.It was not a large space—they merely walked through the gaps forgotten by the castle architects.This was how Danzo’s secrets had been kept hidden for so long.No one would ever notice a sliver of space around one of the four towers that stood at the corner of the castle’s building.At the top of those towers was space for lookouts to keep watch for dangers growing on the horizon.

But they have served as shelter for far greater terrors growing within the castle itself. 

Sakura led the way, her fist lit with magic to illuminate their path. 

As they completed the first turn about the stair a crash echoed behind them: wood and brass slamming in on itself. 

The door had slammed shut. 

For an instant, Sakura’s magic flickered as she jumped at the sudden sound.Gently, Kakashi took her other hand in his, a frim, steadying grip.

“Do you think I need comforting?” she teased, but the words came without an edge.Sakura flexed her hand around the grip, taking comfort in the sword-calloused feel of his hand. 

“Maybe I’m hoping you’ll protect me,” Kakashi replied, his voice a good-humored whisper in her ear.

For an instant she let herself consider turning back.But no, that would be cowardice.They _needed_ to find the truth.So Sakura took a deep breath, lifted her head high, and carried on down the stairs. 

Although Kakashi’s thoughts were a mystery to her, he did not hesitate to follow her down, down into this forgotten crevice of construction.

The air grew colder as they continued their descent,each turn taking them further into the Castle’s stone foundation.But the time they reached the bottom, they would surely be in the level where the dungeons had been carved from stone, where Konoha’s criminals were kept. 

Then, they rounded the final corner, and their destination appeared before them like some dark mirage.In the area illuminated by the glow of her magic, Sakura could see stone walls, just as any other room might be built from.But something about this place whispered with magic.She tried to feel for the source, but there was no sign of it.It seemed to come from all around, a patchwork of power embedded in the walls themselves. 

Sakura took the first step, the sole of her foot just brushing the solid stone of the floor.Too late, as she made that final step, Sakura saw the ruins scribbled into the floor in an arching intricate design.She did not know how to read them, but it did not take a scholar’s education to feel the malice that was scrawled there.As soon as she made contact, the magic in her hand sputtered and died, as though a candle had been blown out. 

Terror mingled with fury at the realization that her power had been stripped of her.Kakashi’s grip on her hand went tight enough to bruise.. 

The _wrongness_ of this place seemed to multiply.Her mouth tasted of iron—of blood, and the smell of metal and sand, sharp and sweaty and infused with the heat of summer filled her senses.It smelled of battle and armor and the clash of steel on steel.

They should turn back.Sakura knew it as surely as she knew that they could not; they would not.Something in her whispered that in taking that first step through the doorway, they had set themselves upon a path.The die had been cast, it was only a matter of seeing the score.

So she took another step, fumbling in the dark.Kakashi followed, joining her in the room, his hand still wound with hers. 

This time, as he stood before her, light filled the room, bright and sudden and blinding.As Sakura’s eyes watered and her vision adjusted to the sudden assault, she could hear Kakashi’s voice.A faint and whispered: “no.”His fingers threaded themselves through her hand, wrapping around her palm so tightly she thought she might bruise.

Her vision adjusted. 

The scene before them had changed.Gone were the stone walls and runes. 

They were outside, in a great forest, in the height of spring.Pink flowers bloomed like wildfire on trees, and the sun hung in the sky with a lazy, early morning haze. 

* * *

Every muscle in Kakashi’s body drew taut at the scene before him.Another man might call it beautiful.Pink petals drifted through the air and the scent of the fresh blossoms lightly caressed his senses, just as it had that day. 

They were in the oldest part of the forests of Konoha, just before the treeline gave way to cliffs and waterfalls. It was a place known as the Kingmaker’s Grove, for an ancient story of Konoha’s founding.They said that it was here, in a time before the founding of a kingdom, when Konoha was just a collection of warring families that the two greatest enemies in the realm’s history put aside their swords and made a vow that would transform the world.This was a place where the great river of history had turned its course, forever changing the landscape.

This was the place where Kakashi’s hands had been permanently stained with blood.

Shouts sounded on the horizon, the familiar noise of a chase.He felt his hand let go of Sakura’s, as though someone else piloted his body.His legs took the first steps shakily, but then with more confidence as it lead him to an outcropping of rock that Kakashi already knew served as the perfect hiding place.

Just as he had that day, sixteen years ago, Kakashi leaned against the rocks and held his breath, waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

* * *

Sakura could not move.Disgust roiled in her stomach as she was held against her will by Danzo’s magic. She delved within herself, desperately looking for some spark of magic, but Danzo’s trap had extinguished every drop of her power.She was helpless to this imprisonment.

Kakashi let go of her hand, taking slow steps towards an outcropping of rock.She tried to call out for him, to catch his attention, but his gaze was trained ahead, unblinking.

And then, he changed. 

The Kakashi she knew disappeared, and in his place was a young boy, barely a squire.His mask and silver hair marked him unmistakably, but gone was the years of experience, the gentle good humor.He was a jagged edge of a boy—even though the mask, Sakura could see that his cheeks were hollow and shadows ghosted under his eyes as though he had not slept well in days. 

Her heart broke at the sight.

And then, crashing through the woods was a girl, a squire, with chestnut brown hair in a tousled bob, and dressed for a long journey.Panic flitted across her features as she ran through the underbrush, and she carried a pack on her back, the kind that would normally hang from a saddle. 

From the look on her face, Sakura could tell that something had gone very _very_ wrong.

And then young Kakashi was moving, lunging from behind the rocks, and Sakura understood at once what was before her.

This was Rin Nohara.

This was Rin Nohara, only moments before her death.

“Rin,” Kakashi’s voice was a strangled yell, still young and high, and unfamiliar to Sakura’s ears.But she was familiar with terror, and she was familiar with pain, and both filled this Kakashi’s words. He lunged from his hiding place behind the rocks, tackling Rin.Although she struggled, there was no attempt to harm her.

“What are you doing here,” the girl snarled, as Kakashi pulled at her arm, dragging her towards his hiding place.“You were supposed to stay behind.”

She was injured, an arrow in the leg.How she could still stand, let alone run, was a mystery to Sakura.The wound was deep and the jagged edge of wood still sticking out from the meat of her thigh.If she did not clean it soon, it would turn to infection.Sakura wanted to rush to the girl, to heal her leg and end her suffering.But this was an ancient wound, one that even her magic could not touch.

“I had to warn you, they’re _hunting_ you.I was assigned to the team, to prove my loyalty, but I wouldn’t.I _couldn’t._ ” The words were a desperate tumble of tangled explanation, but Rin listened with rapt attention. 

She didn’t want to see this.This was not hers.This was Kakashi’s pain, something she had no right to trespass upon.Fighting against some of the enchantment, Sakura forced her head to turn and her eyes to close, as though she could block out the unfolding tragedy.

_You have to look._

The voice— her own voice— purred in her ear, and limbs draped themselves across her shoulders.Sakura could barely turn her head, but she caught a glimpse of pink satin tendrils of hair, and a flash of green eyes. 

_You thought you understood everything, didn’t you?_

There was no kindness in the voice, as it reverberated through her bones.Her doppelgänger put a hand on her jaw, directing her gaze back upon the past. 

* * *

Kakashi knew how this ended.He had seen it a thousand times in his nightmares.But urgency filled him anew, as though he could change the script.The sight of Rin, cheeks flushed from running—she had never liked running—and jaw set in determination had done something to him, had made him forget that this was history.The panic that had seared through him at the sight was just as fresh as it had been that day.

He could change this.He _would_ change this. 

That day, he had been sent to capture the first person to willingly disobey the decree against sorcery.Retribution for breaking the new law was a death sentence, and in those days when the people were still raw and wounded from King Minato’s death, they had been desperate to ease their pain with the taste of blood. 

It had not been until after the briefing when Kakashi had gone to tell Rin of his mission, that he had known who his target was.He had gone to warn her that things had changed in Konoha and she had to stop using her magic. _Yes, even for healing,_ he would say again, and her face would screw up in defiance and frustration, just as it ever did.

This time he would make her understand, he told himself.She had to stay safe, while Kakashi did his duty to the realm so that he could climb the ranks of power and protect her.Anything less was unthinkable.

But when he had gone to her chambers, he had found them deserted and empty.They had been packed hastily, everything of importance gone. 

And Kakashi understood, then, that it was to be _Rin_ he hunted. 

It had been in the gulf of that moment that he knew what he had to do.He would take the lead of their pursuit, to flush out their target, to _ensure_ this mission failed.

And now the past repeated itself.He could see each movement before they occurred.

Rin would turn, try to speak, and he would silence her. 

The horses would crash through the brush, entering the clearing, and stop. 

He would hold his breath, and wait for them to pass.

And then, just as they seemed ready to kick their horses back into motion, Rin’s injured leg gave way, kicking stones through the silent clearing. 

And just like that, the past repeated itself. 

The men dismounted their horses circling around their hiding spot and finding the pair of squires. 

“I see we were right to challenge your loyalty,” a voice said, wretchedly familiar. 

Kakashi, shaking, brought his gaze up to make eye contact with Danzo.Unlike his men, he had not dismounted but stood above Kakashi on a massive black destrier. 

Wrongness flared through him.The words were correct but the identity of the speaker was all wrong.Danzo had not been here for this hunt.He never left the castle, not when his work demanded he stay close to the heart of his business.Even sixteen years ago, he had been an old man, already fallen prey to some infection that kept him from the heat of battle. 

But here he stood, dressed in a knight's fine armor, but still wrapped in his tell-tale bandages.Loathing burned in Kakashi’s throat at the sight.

Kakashi’s loyalty had been a concern, in those days.It had been why he had been assigned to this mission.The death of Obito, his closeness to King Minato, his relationship with Rin—each detail painted a picture that suggested he would not fall in like under King Hiruzen’s regime.He had known this, in those days, and he had done his best to keep his head down and act accordingly.

But now those were distant facts, fading into the immediacy of the moment.The powerful urge to throw his body before Rin’s, to find a route for their escape flushed out every other thought in his head. 

But his control over the situation spilled from his fingers like so much sand. 

Danzo raised a hand in command, and his men tightened their circle around Kakashi and Rin, blocking every possible escape.Here too, the roles had been recast.This was not the group of men that had captured them in his memories.That had been a ragtag bunch of knights and guards, unsure of the righteousness of their commands. 

What stood before him were the men Kakashi had seen in Danzo’s personal guard, in matching black uniform.Their faces set with certainty as they moved to restrain Rin.

Just as he had before, Kakashi drew his sword. 

“You have to _run,”_ Kakashi said, the command as futile as it had been that day.Rin would never make it far on her injured leg. 

“Kakashi,” Rin said, her voice pitched in terror.“You _betrayed_ me _._ You told me you would help me and you lured me right to them! _”_

Kakashi turned in surprise, horror washing over him as though the words were fresh, and not a chant he repeated to himself nightly. 

“I never should have trusted you!”Rin’s voice was high with distress, but Kakashi knew her well.He could see in her eyes no fear.Only the terrible resignation that came with accepting destiny. 

“No,” Kakashi said, the feeble protestation of a boy.“Never. 

“I can’t let you go down with me,” Rin said, her voice low enough so that only he could hear.Then, just as before, her eyes flashed with silver power, and Kakashi could feel the pull on his body.But this time it wasn’t the pull of the past.

He moved like a puppet on a string, dancing to the tune of Rin’s magic

“You need to live,” she said, her voice a low whisper.He wanted to protest that there was no life for him without her in it.That without her, everyone he had ever cared for was dead. 

Something flickered in the back of his mind, some memory of what would come after this moment.But it was overpowered, as he was once again submerged in the past.

“You’ll never take me alive,” she said, her voice certain and so fearless. “I swear it.” It was pitched loud enough for all to hear, so that every witness would tell the story of how Rin Nohara, rogue sorceress, had been a danger, and that Kakashi had been right to take her down.

Even now, she protected him.

Just as before, she released a flash of white light, nothing that could cause harm to him but enough to blind everyone in the area.Enough to convince the witnesses that Kakashi had no choice but to do what came next. 

As he blinked against its brightness, he prayed that this time when his vision cleared Rin would be gone. 

And she was.There was no Rin before him.Instead, Sakura now stood before him, wearing the same determined expression Rin had worn that day.It was Sakura’s eyes that closed in heavy regret, and Sakura’s magic that manipulated his limbs.

Every thought in Kakashi’s head was silence and noise, fused into one horrifying cacophony as his hand moved of its own accord. It was Sakura whose chest his blade slid through.Sakura’s blood blooming across her chest.Sakura’s eyes fading as he scrambled to hold her in his arms.

He grabbed her to him, sliding her to the ground, putting her head on his lap.There were no words as her eyes closed. 

_Was this what you always hoped for?To catch another witch?_

Gone was Danzo and his horde, gone was the Kingmaker’s Grove, and it’s blooming dogwood trees.The warmth of spring, the sweet fragrance, the light breeze; all gone.The only thing that remained was the weight of Sakura’s body in his arms and the sticky, crimson blood that coated his hands.

But now she looked up at him, even as her flesh cooled in his arms.When she opened her eyes again, they had changed. Instead of the familiar emerald, they were lit with the familiar red glow of the Sharingan.He let out a strangled choke of surprise, dropping her to the floor.A coy smile stretched out across her corpse’s face, and she sat up.He could not tear his gaze away from her blood as it poured with new fervor from the wound in her chest. 

“No,” he said.Was it in protestation of her claim?Or was it in disbelief that he had failed, that once again he had watched the person he loved die in his arms? 

His own blade in her chest.

“I had no choice,” he said, bowing his head in despair.At his words, her face changed.The smirk slipped off her face, as it grew into a scowl.She may as well have been an avenging goddess for the fury in her eyes.It was a look he had never seen before, rage and betrayal and hatred.“I would never have hurt her-hurt _you.”_

 _You waited until she trusted you, and then you slaughtered her._ The words were embellished with despair, half disbelief, half vicious certainty.

“We couldn’t escape.I had no experience, no-“ his voice broke.How could he make her believe that Rin had turned her magic upon him?

But did it even matter?Rin had died by his hand, by his failure.He had killed her the minute he had lured her into a false sense of security.If it had not been for him, she might have used some illusion magic to avoid capture, to disguise herself amongst the underbrush.

But she had trusted him, and he had failed her.

This strange, furious, dead Sakura stood.She gripped him by the front of his shirt, pulling him up to meet his gaze.Kakashi did not resist. 

There were few things that united the five kingdoms.One of those was the creation myth of their world.It was said that the first goddess, Kaguya of the Moon, had descended upon the earth and gave mankind her two sons.But, in those days, wars were as common as fever.It was not long before her two sons, hungry for glory, joined in the battles of man.And in their hubris, they joined with mankind to topple their all-powerful mother.The battle was a vicious slaughter. 

It was said that Kaguya’s fury was a force of nature.That she unleashed devastation upon the land unlike any seen before.

Kakashi could imagine that fury now, as Sakura looked down upon him. 

She drew her blade.

* * *

Sakura could not watch Kakashi strike the killing blow.She could feel the prickle of Rin’s magic on her skin forcing his hand.It was palpable even in this crystallized bit of memory.Even without the magic, she had seen the horror and misery on his face.Tears prickled at her eyes, to think of Kakashi, her Kakashi with such blood on his hands.

When Sakura opened her eyes, the scene was gone.She stood alone in a dark room, facing no one but herself.This other Sakura seemed older, somehow.As though she had seen the world, and tasted its darkest secrets. 

Twin Sharingans, crimson and hypnotic, whirled lazily in her gaze. 

_You believed he was a murderer._

Her voice reverberated in her skull, at a pitch just on the edge of painful.

_You thought the worst of him._

“I had reason _,”_ Sakura protested feebly.“He signed the writ of execution himself.”

 _You never asked him about it.You believed Sasuke Uchiha over him.Known liar and traitor.You_ wanted _to believe the worst didn’t you?_

“Outrageous,” she snapped. 

_Who would know you better than I?_ The other Sakura extended her arms as if to show off her form. _I was there with you, every step of the way.Who would know better than I that all you’ve ever wanted was to be poor, lonely Sakura Haruno?Victim of love and heartbreak, friendless and alone.Isn’t that what you’ve always done?_

The other Sakura transformed, this time into the girl she had been when Sakura was a page.Tears welled in her crimson eyes, a mockery of the tears Sakura had shed for Sasuke.

_You claimed to love Sasuke Uchiha, but that was a lie.You just loved the tragedy of it all.The feeling of being special—crossed in love and left behind._

The other Sakura shifted, first into Naruto, then Rock Lee, then Ino.Each of them stared back at her with the damning red gaze of the Sharingan.Then, she was back to being this older Sakura, grinning with malice.

_You didn’t have to be alone._

“I wasn’t alone,” Sakura spat.“I studied under Tsunade.She-“

 _Isolated you.Gave you a choice.You could be one of_ them _or you could share in your power._ “I could _never_ be one of them.”The words were out before Sakura could stop them. 

It had been an open secret, that the great families of Konoha held power in their blood.Tantalizing, illegal powers that they could never wield, or risk being made traitors.But everyone knew, and felt the difference between them. 

And none had felt that difference more keenly than Sakura.Sakura Haruno, from a family only recently risen to nobility, had seen the gulf between her peers and herself the minute she first stepped onto a practice field.Everything had marked her as different, from the cut of her clothes to the way she threw herself into knighthood as though it was her only salvation.And she had seen the secretive glances amongst the other members of the nobility, and she had known she did not belong. 

It had only been worse when she had been assigned to work with Naruto and Sasuke.Even though he was an orphan, Naruto exuded power.It seemed to crackle off of him.He was fast, and strong, and every once in a while, when he thought Kakashi wasn’t looking, he would display a burst of talent, produce a storm within his palms, infuse his blade with crackling heat.All things that would surely get him carted off to the magistrate, if only he were caught.It had been no surprise when The Forest Flame had chosen him as its master.

Sasuke Uchiha, dark heir to the Sharingan, had been no different.He had made his feelings about Sakura plain, despite the law that meant they should have been equal.As citizens, there should have been no difference in their power.As teammates, there should have been no lack of trust.But those were simply paper-thin ideals.The truth was unyielding. 

Had it been any wonder, then, that Sakura had clung to Tsunade so hungrily?The older woman had been the first to offer her a chance to cross that divide. 

_And you never will be one of them now._

The other shook her head in mock pity.

 _They would have accepted you.They_ had _accepted you.But you threw them away because you_ wanted _to.And you’ve done it again._

“What are you talking about.”Sakura’s certainty fled her.“I’ve thrown nothing away.”

_You chose to be here tonight._

“Danzo was going to turn on me.I needed evidence to make sure he couldn’t.I had no choice.”

 _There were always choices.You could have lived as one of the other squires, never used your powers.But no, you_ had _to have it all.The power, the glory, the recognition.In the end, for all your insecurity and all your fear, you couldn’t be just like them.Hiding your nature and living with your head down, just like Ino, and Shikamaru, and Hinata.Just like Naruto._

 _Just like_ me.

The other Sakura transformed once more. 

This time, Kakashi stood before her, chest bared, and face unmasked.Both of his eyes glowed with the Sharingan’s power, but otherwise, he was the Kakashi she knew once again.

_I would have protected you if only you’d given me the chance.If only you’d trusted me._

Words of protest died on Sakura’s lips, leaving her defenseless.She knew this was an illusion, some trick of Danzo’s.But Kakashi’s face flickered with anguish, and it was _her_ fault.

Some part of her wanted to draw herself to him, to take his face in her hands, to kiss him as she had kissed him that day in the desert.But she had let their affair die. 

For her _career._ She had chosen her position in court, her reputation, her _power_ over this relationship.Even as desire had burned through her.She had agreed that they should not let it go beyond the physical, that they would return home and never speak of it.

She had let him go, for knighthood. 

For power. 

“Enough,” she said, the words weak.Her knees shook with exhaustion, as though the room itself seemed to drain her of strength.“What do you want from me?”

The illusion turned once again to Sakura’s form; as if it had grown comfortable wearing her skin.

_You cast him aside for power and look at what its got you.Too weak to face me._

Suddenly the illusion was close, too close, and taking Sakura’s jaw in its hands. 

_Too weak to save yourself._

As if to prove the other Sakura’s point, she could muster no strength to resist. 

“You aren’t real,” she said, the words a whisper.“You aren’t me.” 

But hadn’t this illusion spoken true?Hadn’t it read Sakura exactly for the monster she was?Power-hungry, and isolated by her own design.Casting aside her friends and allies, throwing away Kakashi even though she wanted him.Believing the worst in him to justify her own stupid choices. 

_Too weak to save Tsunade._

The insult struck true. 

Something in Sakura snapped. 

Her arm moved before she realized, unsheathing the dagger at her hip. 

“You are _not_ me.”

She jammed the dagger into her doppelganger's side, hitting tender flesh. 

Life’s blood poured from the illusion’s side, and it began to fade in her arms. 

But in its place—

Kakashi’s eyes fluttered in hesitant blinks, as the color drained from his face and his breaths came in labored pants. 

“No,” Sakura breathed, clutching him in her arms.“No.”

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

It was one long chant, an unbroken stream of denial.Pain coursed through her, as surely as if she had been the one stabbed.But of course, the blade was in her own bloody hands.It clattered to the floor as she wrapped her arms around Kakashi, slowly drawing him to her lap.She placed his head in her thigh, pressing one hand down on the would to stop the bleeding. 

She could heal this.She _had_ healed wounds like this, with as little effort as a run around the castle demanded.But here, in this chamber of horrors, magic did not flow from her fingers.Internally, she screamed at herself, desperate to pull the life-saving magic out of her.

But it did not come.

Kakashi stared up at her, his expression soft.His gaze did not break from her face, not once.His arm rose, shaking with effort even as the blood fled his body.His fingers brushed along her cheekbone.She could feel the blood there as it smeared across her skin, marking her for her crimes.

“I suppose…I deserved that,” he said with a self-deprecating sigh.He tried to laugh, producing a weak little thing as the strength fled his body, turning into a gurgling cough. 

“No,” she said again.It was the only word she could muster for the horror here. 

“It wasn’t…your fault,” he tried again, giving her the kindest lie she had ever heard. 

“No, no, you have to stay,” she said, desperately applying pressure to the wound.But it was no use. The light had begun to flee his eyes, and his face had gone waxen and pale.

“I’m sorry,” he continued even as the words cost him time with every syllable. “I couldn’t…keep up my end of the bargain.” 

“Stop talking,” she ordered.“You need to save your strength.”

“I know it was wrong but…I couldn’t let you go.”

“What are you talking about?” she whispered.Tears, sharp and unrelenting welled up in her eyes.He had to save his strength.It didn’t matter to her what they had agreed upon during their journey.Didn’t he know it was more important that he live, that he stay with her, no matter the terms?

“I love you,” he said, the words a stuttering gasp.At first, she thought she had misunderstood, the words had come so quiet.Then, she was too struck by the weight of his confession, as it settled around her so heavy that she couldn’t form the words to answer.

Her thoughts moved too slow.She was frozen in place, applying pressure to a flow of blood that could not be staunched.Kakashi’s chest rose, and fell, rose, and fell, as he could do nothing but breathe, waiting for a response.

And then, it stopped.

He looked like he might be sleeping: his eye half shut, and slack peace in his expression. But Sakura was a healer and she could not fool herself. 

Kakashi had died waiting for her response.


	22. xx. that oceans could lie between them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HI!!! THANK YOU FOR STILL BEING HERE!!!!! I opted for a longer chapter this time around because I wanted to propel the story forward and not spend WEEKS of chapters resolving the last ~ cliffhanger ~. Thank you guys so much for all your comments, it brings me SUCH delight reading your reactions! 
> 
> Just remember, nothing is final until the epilogue..... 
> 
> Also, I don't normally do this but for the last scene of this chapter, I was super inspired by photos of Salar de Uyuni, the salt flats in Bolivia. You should definitely check out photos because it looks INCREDIBLE. Not to encroach on your guys's vision of the setting but I'm obsessed. 
> 
> Enjoy!!! (And thank you again for still being here!!!!!)

xx. that oceans could lie between them

With a shaking hand, she brushed her thumb over Kakashi’s eye and closed it the rest of the way.Reaching over, Sakura took off his eye patch, closing the other eye and protecting his secrets.She did not touch his mask—even in death Kakashi would never have abided being so exposed. 

Sakura had been offered true power once.A beautiful boy with red hair and long dark lashes had extended his hand and offered her a place amongst his number.

She had said refused. 

Sakura had been so bold in those days.What need did she have for devil’s bargains?She was young, and her power rose in her veins like the morning sun.In her heart, she could never imagine a time when that would not be enough.

Looking down at Kakashi’s prone form, Sakura knew she would bargain a thousand times over to undo this.She was frozen in place, unable to tear her eyes away from his face.Her fingertips burned to brush against his cheek, as she had stroked his cheek when they had shared a bedroll in the forest.

But she was too afraid that if she reached over, she would feel his skin cold, and lifeless, and she would know then, that this was real.

The enchantment’s thirst for blood now quenched, it had released her from its hold.There were no illusions, the room had once more become a windowless stone chamber, covered in runes.No more did the magic hold her in place, manipulating her.

But something else rooted her to Kakashi’s side. 

She did not cry. 

She could not cry.

The tears would not come.If they did, it would be surrender.Mourning Kakashi would make this real, would make his senseless, meaningless death final. 

Even the sound of footsteps behind her could not make her move.She had no doubt that it was Danzo, come to collect on her fate. 

She tried to come up with some clever strategy, some way to turn her fates around, to win.But her thoughts kept circling back to the body before her.Any coherence in the thread of her thoughts faded away as she thought of Kakashi-

Kakashi-

The next words skipped in her mind, as she failed to accept the world before her. 

“Sieze her.”The damnation in Danzo’s voice was an old friend.She did not bother to turn her head, to give him the respect of a glance.In return, he did not condescend to sound surprised to find her here. 

Dark boots entered her view, part of the uniform of Danzo’s private army.Strong arms wrenched her to her feet, and Sakura did not struggle.She didn’t do anything but stare at Kakashi’s form on the floor.

This wasn’t an illusion, but some selfish part of her begged and bargained for the illusion to start once again.To show her Kakashi standing up, breathing, alive. 

But Danzo’s trap denied her that final reprieve.

Rough ropes wound around her wrist, as Danzo’s men restrained her.

 _How quaint! How droll!That they think they can hold me like this._ The thought sounded suspiciously like that other Sakura, the older Sakura who had known the shape of the entire world. 

“Murder,” Danzo purred, stepping into view.“I will add that to the writ for your arrest.I look forward to seeing you beg for the king’s favor when he learns what you’ve done.”He cast Kakashi’s body a disparaging look before nudging it with his toe.“I imagine even he will have a hard time forgiving you this.”He gave Kakashi another nudge with his boot, this time to his jaw. 

Anger grew like bile in Sakura’s throat.She wanted to lunge at Danzo for the disrespect, to push him to that floor and drive her knife through his chest.But something held her back, cautioning prudence.Better to let him think her weak, an easy target, a vanquished enemy.

Better to take her vengeance once he understood what kind of enemy she truly was. 

“Take her away,” Danzo said.“And send for someone to clean up the mess.”

Sakura had done so many impossible things.Hundreds of bruises, thousands of hours training with a sword between her hands, mastering sorcery, facing Sasori or the Red Sand..But none was so difficult as allowing herself to be led away from Kakashi.

* * *

Irony was a cruel master.The path through the dungeons was familiar now, she had taken this path when she had orchestrated Tsunade’s escape.And now, they brought her to the same cell that Tsunade had spent the last of her days in.

It felt like a rebuke of all of her failures. 

But of course, her jailers would have known this.

She allowed them to lead her into the dark, waiting until they turned their backs and assumed she had gone docile into imprisonment.She did not let the aching familiarity of this place show on her face.

A knee nudged her back, sending her stumbling into the cell.Sakura fell to her knees, a performance of vulnerability.(Or so she told herself. There was more weakness in her than she dared admit).There was a part of her that wanted to collapse into the stone heaving with sobs.But if she began, it would never stop.Even one scream of rage could unleash a tempest of emotion and destruction that Sakura would be helpless to check.

She would tear this place brick by brick, releasing every glimmer of power in her body until it burned through her, leaving nothing but destruction and her own burned-out husk.It would be the end of Konoha, the final salvo of King Naruto’s short reign.It would be-

Sakura took a deep shuddering breath, killing that image. 

That was the dream of a monster.It would make her exactly what Danzo claimed, exactly what Tsunade had warned her to never become.Traitor, monster, sorceress. 

Why shouldn’t they execute her?The world would be safer without her power, without her fury.

After all, it had been her dagger that had-

The sound of the door of her cell, clanging shut, broke her out of her thoughts.Sakura turned to see the face of the man that had kicked her, to memorize the lines of his face and ensure she paid him back in kind someday.But she would never know his identity.Three men of Danzo’s guard had already turned their backs on her, the culprit could have been any one of them. _Three!_ Some furious part of herself was insulted. _Don’t they know what I am?What I’m capable of? Do they think three _mere _fighters could stop me?_

Every part of Sakura was at war with herself.She wanted to rage against Danzo and his men, to make them pay for the trap they had set.If she could not lash out, she would have no other target, no other enemy than herself.

As if observing this inner war, a dark-haired young man, about her age, stood across the bars of her cell. He wore the dark uniform of Danzo’s secret army. 

Sai.

The name came to her in a rush of memory.They had fought in another lifetime; when the worst thing Sakura hd to lose was her place in a tournament. 

He seemed a study in contrasts.Sai wore the uniform of Danzo’s guard—a now familiar sight in Konoha, but his face was unlined and young.So different than the rest of Danzo’s men.It was as though with Tsunade gone, Danzo had appointed himself the keeper of some peace.The men in dark uniforms patrolled the cobblestone streets of the city, enforcing their own version of order.She could not recall Naruto granting him the right to lead an army, but still, this brigade roamed free, ready for violence.

But Sai was younger than the rest, barely old enough to have passed for knighthood. No, that wasn’t right.Only the offspring of the noble families could climb the ranks and serve directly under the king.There was no indication that this Sai came from such a family.He had only been able to participate in the tournament because there were no such demands upon the winner. 

Sai had thrown the match that day, giving her an undeserved win.They had never spoken after that.She had never been given the chance to ask _why._ Sakura had made no pains to avoid him, but their paths had not crossed in the weeks following. 

She had never understood why he had thrown the match that day.And now she could not understand why he looked down at her with an expression utterly devoid of malice.She would have expected him to be triumphant, or at the very least, relieved to see one more witch put away.That was, after all, what his master, Danzo, craved above all else. 

But Sai’s expression seemed to contain nothing but sorrow. 

“You’ll be executed for this, you know,” he said.“They’ll say you went mad and murdered your mentor.”

“But you know better?” she spat. 

Sai regarded her with those dark eyes, inscrutable regret melding with pity. 

“I know that place is a trap, meant to hold those that Danzo cannot abide,” Sai said.“I know that none who have entered have left intact, that it warps minds.”

Sakura did not give him the satisfaction of reacting to the silent implication.The lazy swirl of the Sharingan crossed her thoughts…she suspected that this was not a part of the illusion.But it should have been an impossibility—few could wield the Sharingan.With no Uchiha remaining in the kingdom, only Kakashi should have been able to access such power.

But he had fallen victim to illusion, just as she had. 

“Who can say what your future holds,” he said, then turned on his heel. She listed to the echo of his footsteps disappear, leaving her alone in the dungeon.

Sakura watched him go, unable to decide if he was a fool or had some secret agenda.

For there was one thing Danzo and his men had overlooked.This was the cell where Tsunade had been held.Sakura had spent an entire day designing the perfect escape from just this place.

They had made no attempt to stop her magic.She had felt it come roaring back to life the instant they had left Danzo’s chambers.

It was as though even now, with the blood of her crimes painted red across her chest, Danzo still underestimated her. 

It was tempting, for a moment, to imagine sitting back an accepting the fate she deserved.But it had not been Sakura alone that was party to the day’s atrocity.Kakashi deserved a better ending than that.He deserved justice. 

If Sakura had to burn this city down, she would get him that justice. 

* * *

Escaping the cell was easy work.The dungeons were a stiffer challenge, but Sakura managed.Word of her crimes had not yet reached the stables, and no one challenged her as she saddled her horse.She was careful to conceal the blood on her clothes as she rode through the town, avoiding the dark uniform of Danzo’s army, and the scarlet tunics of the Guard. 

It was not until she was clear of the city that she marveled at how easy it had been. 

How Tsunade would have been able to escape, even without her squire’s fumbling attempts at a rescue.How she must have chosen, for some purpose, to stay.

The thought opened a well of pain, a new depth that Sakura had not known existed.

She could not stay within these stone walls, where enemies lurked at every turn.Her home had become a perversion of itself, where ghosts and death haunted every corner. 

Sakura would not return until she had truly become what they feared. 

Only when she had ridden past the horizon, deep into the forest, Sakura slowed her pace.For she did not travel alone.She had not been the only prisoner in the dungeons that day. 

Revulsion churning her stomach, Sakura reached into the bag that hung from her saddle.She was careful to grip only hair as she pulled Hidan’s head from the bag.Something about Hidan struck her as just as likely to bite as to help her.

“Which way,” she said, lofting the head before her. 

He seemed to consider for a moment, as though tasting the wind, before he said, “west.”

Sakura moved to put the head back in the bag, but he continued, “you could let me ride before you on that saddle, and I could guide you better.” But there was a lascivious bent to the words that made her lip curl in disgust. 

“Or I could gag you with a cloth,” she spat.“If you want to make it back to the Akatsuki, you will ride in the bag.Or I will throw you off a cliff and into the sea.”

“Tyrant,” the head spat.As she dropped the head back into the leather pouch, she heard him say, “I see why Sasori liked you.”

* * *

They rode hard for days.Their journey took them through the great lush forests of Konoha, passing into the frigid wastes of the Kingdom of Waves.Here, mist wrapped her in its shroud and the air seemed to freeze before it could leave her lungs.

The horizon stretched out before her, endlessly changing and unknown.Every step of Shannaro’s thundering gait was like a drumbeat, hastening her further and further into the distance. 

She did not know what destiny waited for her at the end of that massive expanse. 

She did not know what she longed for, so desperately that she spurred her horse ever faster.

But some certainty guided her.It was as though the strings of fate were pulling her into the heart of the Akatsuki’s territory.She should have been terrified to throw herself to the mercy of enemies.But Sakura was too far gone for fear, and her enemies too many to distinguish from allies.

The landscape was marred with pockets of destruction. They saw villages on the horizon, burned and ruined.The first time they crossed such carnage, Sakura held Hidan’s head up to see, to furiously show him the destruction his comrades had wrought.She wanted him to feel some shame, to see the aftermath of the Akatsuki’s bloodlust and repent.

But she had never expected the sorrow in his dark eyes.It did not take the denial in his voice to know that the Akatsuki had not been behind this.

If Sakura had not been so swept by grief and determination, she would have been chilled to think of yet another threat on the horizon. Some sharp-edged malice waiting in the shadows, ready to unleash itself upon Konoha.

Sakura allowed herself the luxury of a moment to pause, to weigh the possibility of turning home and adding her sword to the realm's defense. It was a habit—one beaten into her in long hours in the practice field, in stories of duty and chivalry.In long lectures on what it meant to fight for the realm, delivered in Kakashi’s sharp voice. 

Were it not for that moment of hesitation, she would have been in no danger.Had she ridden on ahead, with no heed for the burning villages of Konoha, Sakura would never have been a target.

But then she was being _pulled._ Her shirt constricted her throat, choking away her air as some invisible force clawed at the back of her tunic, dragging her down the side of the horse.

She gave a strangled shout as she dropped Hidan, then her back collided onto dirt and stone.

The attacker struck, clawing at her face.Sakura reacted instinctively, throwing wards up to guard her face and the tender veins in her throat. 

A flash of white, then sharp pain as claws glanced off her wards, leaving bruises in their wake.She rolled, desperate to put distance between her and the attacker.Honed reflexes brought her sword out of its scabbard, her stance ready for battle.

But no second attack came. 

A monster lay on the ground before her—it’s legs half mangled and burned by fire.It looked like a man, with a man’s torso and a man’s face.But its skin was ivory-pale and slick like the worms that appeared after heavy rain.It was a creature for caves and darkness, its mouth stretched longer than any man’s should. Her stomach churned, some ancient, instinctual fear rising in her.

One thing was clear: the vicious hunger that lit its gaze.Bright yellow eyes glared up at her, narrowed in fury.It wanted to rip her limb from limb, to rend into her flesh with its sharp teeth. 

Somehow it had dragged itself out of the underbrush, pulled itself up her horse's saddle to drag her down to its level.She would never know how it had done so silently, with some predators instinct even as it had been half destroyed.

Somehow, she knew, that this _thing_ had been behind the attacks in the towns and villages on the border.

Sakura did not hesitate.Her blade came down in a wide arc, separating its head from its body. 

The sight of its blood was familiar, as crimson as any man's.She turned her head away, blocking out memories of her hands lacquered in red, her dagger sliding through Kakashi’s stomach.

Finding Hidan’s head was harder than slaying the creature—he had rolled under the brush in the scramble.Once located, he had choice words for girls who dropped valuable cargo, and she contemplated leaving him there to feed the ravens. 

“What was that thing,” she asked.“One of yours?”

“The Akatsuki has standards,” Hidan growled, insulted by the suggestion.“I suspect there are more where that came from…it feels _unfinished._ ”

Sakura spared the creature one more glance, skin-crawling.They rode harder after that, stopping to rest only when her horse could go no further.

A good knight would ride home, to warn the kingdom of the incoming threat.After all, a knight’s first duty was to protect the realm and its people. 

But Sakura’s duty to Konoha had died with Kakashi.

* * *

Sakura knew they had reached their destination when the earth seemed to die beneath their feet.They had crossed deep into the wintery Land of Waves, and snow coated the ground, crunching beneath Shannaro’s hooves.But here, dark lines streaked through the untouched white frost. The fossils of blackened trees skewered the sky, like sticks marking a mass grave.Ash drifted down on them instead of snow, dusting the world in a shroud of grey and white and black. 

This was no man’s land.Nothing could grow here, nothing could _live_ here. 

So it was fitting, then that this was the seat of the Akatsuki’s power. 

Mountains rose before them, and carved within; a fortress, ancient and forbidding.Its entrance towered over her, large enough to admit giants.There were no guards posted at the massive iron door.There was no need—no one would be foolish enough to come to this place to make war. 

Sakura stopped at the door and lofted Hidan’s head before her.He spoke some ancient word, the sound of it a croak that rattled her very bones with its power.There was a pause, long enough that Sakura thought perhaps Hidan had led her into a trap. 

Then there was a sound like an avalanche, and the stone of the fortress’s door cracked opened for them.Sakura took a deep breath, enjoying the last touch of cold air.Then she stepped inside. 

The interior was just as cold and threatening as the outside.There was no greeting when she stepped into the fortress, no signs of life anywhere in this place.The stone simply reformed behind her, closing her from the rest of the world.

The die had been cast.Her path had been set. 

Their only source of light were the candles that burned in braziers on each side.Sakura inspected one briefly, before recoiling.The braziers were made of bone— skulls mounted upon the walls, creatures made of antler and teeth, as far from animal as they were from human.Tattered cloth hung from the walls, the ghost of tapestries from a kingdom lost to the cruel amnesia of history. 

With no signs of inhabitants, Sakura would have been lost without the magnetic lure of power.But it purred against her, drawing her down unmarked stairways deeper into the mountains.

Hidan was silent as she carried him down, into the depths of this fortress.He had mocked her through the length of the journey, eager to goad her with insults and insinuations.Now he held his tongue, despite the way her fingers threaded through his silver hair.

Once the air was cool and stale, and the bricks had faded into cave walls and the hallways into tunnels and rock formations, Sakura knew she had reached their destination.A massive antechamber stretched out before her, sleek stone marred only by a slow-moving river of glacier water—as clear as glass this close to its source.A pillar of ice rose from the center of the room, carved into a dais for a king.But the Akatsuki claimed no monarch.

Even if she had been blind, she would have known this was her destination.This place was a roaring kiln of power.

“Approach him,” Hidan said.Sakura’s stomach flipped at the tone, which teased and rebuked as much as it ordered.As though he knew something she did not. 

A staircase was carved in the great pillar of ice: an invitation. 

Carefully, Sakura took those steps.It would make her look like a fool to fall to her death here; after she had come so far.But the ice was not slick—there were no signs of melting, its life prolonged by some magic. 

To a normal caster, it would be a miracle.But for the Akatsuki this was nothing.And with every step, Sakura could feel that finally, she had reached the source of that wonder.

A throne rested at the top of the pillar—although to call it such tested the word to its limits.The chair was unadorned by jewels or furs, but it was massive and carved from a massive gnarled trunk of driftwood. 

And at the base of the driftwood throne, sat a man—although he hovered on the line between the living and the dead.His skin was shriveled and worn, his hair hung in a lank scarlet curtain.The dark livery of the Akatsuki covered him, faded and worn, and half crumbling around his form.Where the cloth had tattered into oblivion, bone peeked through, barely concealed by paper-thin skin. 

But his eyes were bright and alive. Although sunken into his skull, they shined with a sickening lilac glow.Those piercing eyes were a uniform shade of faded purple, without the whites of a normal man’s eyes.The only thing to break up the color were dark black lines, spiraling in a mockery of pupils. 

It was easy to imagine him as the center of the Akatsuki’s miracles, even as their powers drained him. 

Sakura was transfixed.It was as though he could see right through her with that lavender gaze—with one glance he seemed to read her every desire, every terror. 

“What brings you here?” he commanded.The words were a whisper, but Sakura could _feel_ them.They filled the room, silently echoing off the walls, as though this person did not fully exist on the mortal plane.Like he had become part made of energy, the thrumming heart of magic itself. 

Sakura’s only answer was to lift Hidan’s head before her in offering.

The man nodded, the action seeming to cost him with every inch of movement.Then, as if appearing out of nowhere, the woman from the Akatsuki’s last attack appeared at his side.White, papery wings stretched out behind her.The warmth in her cheeks and the vitality in her movements seemed impossible in this frozen place.At the merest nod from the man in the throne, she took the offered head.No words were exchanged.There was a casual intimacy in their movements like decades stretched out behind their partnership.

But there was something in the flicker of her glance at the man in the chair, half deference, half…fear.Then her gaze slipped back to Sakura, guarded and cold.But it was enough. 

Sakura knew now: this woman feared for the man in the throne. 

He had a weakness. 

The Akatsuki had a weakness.

They waited in silence until the woman disappeared again, taking Hidan with her. 

“I am Nagato,” the man offered, “and this is my fortress.”

Etiquette demanded that she reciprocate, but some part of her resisted giving Nagato her name.It felt like giving away too much.With her name, he would know the entire shape of her secrets.

“I know who you are, Sakura Haruno.I have felt the spark of your power, burning like a distant candle.I felt it as you snuffed out the light of Sasori of the Red Sand, as you approached with Hidan.”

“How?”The question blurted out of her before she could stop it.“I am no one.A merchant's daughter newly risen to the nobility, a common squire with no glory, no history.”

“And yet you seized power with your own two hands, power even I can sense from half a world away.It is the stoking of the flame that makes a wildfire, not the spark.” 

When Sakura did not speak, he began again, a wry smile stretched out across his skeletal features, “And you took down Sasori.”Fear curled in her, as she realized that Sasori, too, had a network of connections, people who may carry a grudge on his behalf.

There was no resentment in Nagato’s voice, even at the mention of the companion she had killed. 

“You have done us a boon,” the man said, as the sound of wingbeats died.“What favor do you seek?”

She had pondered this question in the days spent on the road.As autumn rain had poured on their camp, as harsh winds blew through her body, threatening to blow her off her horse, Sakura had wondered.

What did she want? 

She wanted to unmake the world, to reshape it in a new image. 

What she wanted was impossible, an abomination.Tsunade had spoken of death magic and she had made it clear that it was a path that led to destruction.It had been the only thing she had outright denied to teach Sakura.

“To forget,” she said instead.“To become something new.”

The man shifted, the slightest rippling of energy.Something about her answer had displeased him. 

“Many have come through my halls,” he said.“Some seeking wealth.Some seeking infamy.Some seeking power.But all of them have been honest.All of them have been willing to lay bare their naked desires, the dark engine of their hearts.I can do nothing with lies.”Though his tone never rose above the hush of a midnight whisper, his power crashed against her.It felt as infinite as the sea.She had to throw her wards up to dampen the assault.

“Sasori spoke of your number,” she said, spine straight.“He offered me a place amongst you.” 

“I suspect Sasori would have made you a number of promises—he was a collector of beautiful objects.But a place among us was not his to offer.”Nagato continued to examine her with that unreadable purple gaze.“But that is not your desire, either.”

As though the weight of his gaze drew it out of her, Kakashi overwhelmed her thoughts.She wanted to tear this world down and remake it into a world that had never lost the warmth of Kakashi’s laugh, the feel of his calloused hands upon hers. 

“Loss is something I know well,” Nagato said.“It is not an easy burden to bear, but that is one country I cannot tread.”

She felt it now, the power that threaded through this cavern.The Akatsuki were an impossible marvel, but they could not work such power without a source. Nagato’s power stretched out beyond him, into silver threads of magic that she suspected linked to every member of the Akatsuki.This was the source of their marvels; this one man. 

And even he could not give her what she desperately sought.

“I have seen impossible things,” Sakura said, her voice welling with emotion.“I have fought the skeletons of the past, have seen a man live though he had no body left.Explosions have rattled my kingdom, burning with the Akatsuki’s—with _your_ power.”

Nagato inclined his head in admission. 

“You are the first, I think, to come to me seeking such a bargain.But you are not the first to wish for such things.”There was a touch of his own, private sorrow across his features.No, he _was_ no stranger to loss, this withered king, this eternal power source.

“You would not like the price it demands, Sakura.”

The familiarity with which he used her name sent bile rising in her throat.He had spoken of loss and death, of overturning that final decision.He had spoken of it like it was a real thing that he could offer, if only she were willing to pay the price.

And then he had ripped such hopes away with his denial. 

“So you will give me nothing,” she spat.Part of her was shocked at the level of rancor that threatened to overtake her.She had no sympathy for his own losses, his own secret pain.He knew the wounds and yet he poked them anyway.

He would know that the last vestiges of hope died in her chest, he would know the pain there.

“War waits on the horizon,” Nagato said.“There will be plenty of death in even portions.I suggest you grow accustomed to the taste of loss.”

Sakura’s knees shook under the weight of this prediction.

“If there is any such war, it will be at your hands,” she snarled.“You have attacked us, and you have attacked our allies, and now you tell me to get used to the feeling of watching those I care for die.All while _you_ kill them.” 

There was a long silence.Sakura remembered then, that she was in the heart of Nagato’s territory, that she had no allies, no hidden plan.His tolerance was all that permitted her survival now. 

But pity traced his features.For all that he was barely living, that his breath rattled in his chest like a dying man’s vow, he pitied _her._

 _“_ Konoha devours its own,” he said.“We do not need to lift a single blade—except to hasten what is already festering.”

“And yet you speak of _war,”_ she prodded, not caring for the truth of his words.

“The world will soon be bathed in bloodshed,” he said.“But not by our hand.An enemy grows in power in the North, as does the grudge he bears for Konoha.”She remembered then, the white creature she had killed.The monster who had destroyed the villages.

 _I don’t care,_ she wanted to scream.But it was a lie.Konoha was home, for all that it had forsaken her.For all that she had fled, for all that even the thought of returning there was a dagger in her heart.Ino was there, her family was there.But without Tsunade-

Without Kakashi-

“Rest,” Nagato said, a wry smile growing on his corpse’s features.“You must forgive my hospitality—as you can imagine we do not entertain many guests among our number.”

Sakura was too numb to react to the invitation.She had fought these people, she had killed one of their number, and now she would rest beneath their walls.

If they decided to kill her in the night, Sakura could not imagine resisting.The fight against Sasori had drained her, fully.If any of the Akatsuki decided it was time to eliminate her, she would be utterly helpless.

Resigned, she stepped off the dais, her strength fleeing with every step.The journey here had been relentless.What had sustained her through the journey was the feeling of being _called._ As if some destiny summoned her, like a compass pointing north.

And it had brought her nothing.

Sakura made it out of the antechamber before she fell to her knees. 

None of those was miracle enough to undo the past.To get Kakashi back.

It was only now, that Sakura knew he was _dead._ Kakashi was gone, and she was helpless under the weight of that truth.

If she had been meant to seek out some chamber to rest in, Sakura did not obey.Instead, she sank to the cool stones of the floor, helpless against the sobs that wracked her body. 

* * *

Time passed.Sakura would never know how long she laid against the stone floors, sobbing like it could rend her body in two; like it could consume her entirely. 

Then hands guided her to her feet.She forced her body into compliance, quelling the storm.It had been so easy to forget that she was in the heart of enemy territory.If any amongst the Akatsuki’s number sought their vengeance for Sasori’s death, there would be no struggle. 

But she would not perform fear.Her face stilled into silence, Sakura looked up into the face of the man who had brought her back to herself.

He was darkness incarnate.The man could have been a model for any saint’s icons, with his angular cheekbones and the fine curve of his lip.But his was a smile meant for cruelty, all proud angles, and sensuous softness that seemed to offer his lovers a taste of immortality.A saint of death.

But Sakura found herself captivated by eyes that whispered of home.

“You are far from Konoha’s forests,” Itachi Uchiha said. 

She should have been afraid of the boy who had slaughtered his family, who had put Sasuke on a path for vengeance that would consume the rest of his life.But Sakura did not flinch at the depths of his gaze.There was no bloodlust there, no sign of the furious destruction that could lead to a massacre. 

“You would know better than anyone what it means to be cast out,” she said. 

A smirk flitted across his features.It was at war with his natural remoteness, a crack of humanity in the immortal saint’s icon. 

“You weep,” he said.“After burdening us with Hidan once again, surely Nagato would have granted any of your desires.” 

Sakura could not help the anguish that crossed her face.No—Nagato would not grant _any_ desire.

“There are some desires too demanding.Even for your master,” she whispered. 

The Sharingan in Itachi’s gaze whirled lazily as if trying to see through her.Sakura’s stomach churned at the sight, unable to forget the memory of Danzo’s chamber of horrors. 

“Don’t,” she said, but the command was weak.“I don’t want your illusions.”

The Sharingan stopped its hypnotic swirl. 

“Then tell me what you really desire,” Itachi asked.She could read nothing in his expression.“Perhaps I can offer a bargain of my own.” 

And this time Sakura could not resist.This time, she knew what she wanted.

“Death,” she said.“The power to undo death.”

The words were a croak as if even her body rebelled against the taboo in her words.Tsunade had once made her swear that she would never try to work such magic. 

But Tsunade was gone.

Itachi did not balk at the request.He considered her for a long moment, and Sakura could not help but wonder if he, too, would balk at the weight of her desires.But then Itachi extended his midnight cloak, wrapping it around Sakura.Her vision went dark as the sound of wingbeats flooded the air.

* * *

When she came back to herself they were in the wilderness. But it was like no wild place that Sakura had ever seen.The dying orange light of the sunlit the horizon like embers, yielding to the dark curtain of night.Stars splattered the sky, delicately gleaming through the final stirring notes of sunset.The sky reflected on the endless expanse of the ground until it faded into one another, a massive mirror of color. 

She took a step forward, and the ground crunched beneath her feet.Sakura could not resist leaning down and taking an experimental swipe fo the ground beneath her. 

Her fingers came away dusted in white crystalline powder. 

Salt.The ground was coated in salt. 

A single dead tree broke the endless mirrored horizon before her.Its dark wood jutted from the ground like a monument, skirted by a pond that seemed to be lit from within with a teal glow. 

Even wracked with loss and exhaustion, Sakura’s breath caught in her throat at the beauty of it.Dormant tears threatened to rise once more, as she imagined telling Kakashi of this place.

“Where are we?”

“A forgotten place,” Itachi offered.“A place where power is as easy to come by as air. ”

As he spoke, Sakura could feel the truth of his words.Her magic welled up within her, no longer the familiar candle’s warmth but a searing wildfire of heat.The kind of power that could end a nation. 

The kind of power that could challenge death itself. 

She could not help the hope that shone on her face. 

“Nagato may have forgotten, but I still know how to respect the sanctity of gratitude,” Itachi said taking her by the hand.She allowed herself to be led, her fingers curling around Itachi’s. 

“You have asked for something that is greater than you can imagine,” Itachi said.“It cannot be given freely, you will also have to pay a toll.”His voice had taken on a deep bass tone, as though he spoke past her and into the secrets of magic itself.

At the foot of the pond, Itachi took both of her hands in his own and guided her into its waters.It was only deep enough to lap at her ankles, but cold enough to send a shiver up her spine.Itachi ran a hand down her face, before moving to unbutton her shirt. 

This time her shiver had nothing to do with the cold.

His fingers opened the travel-worn garment and peeled it off her shoulders, baring her chest.In nothing but her breast-band and worn leather pants, beneath an endless expanse of stars, Sakura felt endlessly exposed.But there was no one to see her but the heavens. 

“You have asked for something that could rip the ties of fate itself.You ask for something that could tear the universe in on itself, swallowing us all whole.”

A lump grew in her chest, and Sakura could not help the terror that haunted her words. 

“What do you require of me?”Even her own words seemed heavy with ritual as if somewhere deep in her spirt, she knew what would come next. 

“You must make an even trade.”

“My life?”She could not stop the suggestion.It was the only thing that seemed worth the bargain.But no—she had not come here to die.All of this would be for naught if she died here. 

Itachi had claimed the lives of his entire family.Some part of her contemplated that this, too, might be some dark trick, some new way to slake his hunger for death. 

But when Sakura looked up into his inky gaze, some instinct demanded she trust him.

“Not that,” Itachi replied.For an instant, humanity flickered in his gaze once more.“That would be too neat.It must be something you have fought for, something as essential the breath in your lungs.”

The answer came to her in a rush.

“My magic,” she said.

His nod was a heavy sorrowful thing. 

She saw then that it was the only thing she could offer.Her power, that she had sacrificed so much for, that she had traded away so many facets of her life for—what else could she offer?It was not just power, but _time._ It was the last four years of her life.It was her friendships, her connections to the other squires, her place in Konoha. 

With her power gone, all of it had been traded for nothing.

But if this could wash the blood from her hands, if it could bring her back Kakashi—she would choose it every time.

“Why are you helping me?” 

“Can it be enough that I saw a girl from home,” Itachi said, the barest hint of a smile on his lips.“And I could not resist her tears?”His thumb brushed up against the curve of her cheek and the corner of her eye, where, indeed, more tears threatened to fall. 

Sakura as not fool enough to believe him.It was an incomplete answer, a half-truth.She did not have Nagato’s ability to look into the hearts of man but she knew that Itachi had his own designs.But she had no choice except to trust him. 

Itachi’s fingers brushed the column of her throat before his thumb touched the hollow where her neck met the bone of her clavicle. 

A sharp pain, then the hot rush of lifeblood, welling up against the cool skin of her neck. 

“If you hope to return, you will have to anchor yourself to the mortal world.You will have to feel the beating of your own heart, the course of your blood pumping in your veins.You will have to feel the grasping fingers of death and choose—every time—the vital warmth of the living world.” 

He had not once stepped into the pond, but somehow Itachi was all around her, overwhelming her senses.His voice enveloped her in its deep, ritual tones, its only competition the drumbeat of her heart. 

His lips seemed to hover against her, then brushed along the incision in her neck.One hand, warm and strong, rested at the base of her skull.She could feel the power, radiating off of him in ancient waves.If her magic had been a wildfire, this was an inferno.

His lips traveled up her neck, and Sakura could not resist a sharp gasp at the feeling.Then it stopped, bringing his face gravely to her own.

“The blood calls to them,” he said.Before Sakura could respond, his lips pressed against her own, and the sharp metallic taste of blood—her blood—assaulted her tongue.It was no proper kiss, but there was a passion there as the magic coursed between them.When they separated her breathing came in high, breathy pants.“And the spirit responds.”

“Remember that, in the underworld,” Itachi said.As he stepped away, the air seemed to cool around her. His dark eyes were lined with sorrow.“I am not sure I have done you a kindness.”

But there was no time to answer, for Sakura had begun to sink, her feet slipping down into the shallow pool.

Down, into the depths of the underworld. 


	23. III.  Third Interlude

III.Third Interlude

In the dark corridors of night, Sasuke dreamed of Naruto.His golden hair would be out of place here, where the land withered and the air was heavy with frost.What would he think of Sasuke, at the head of an army?Would he be disgusted by this new future?Would he be afraid?

The questions kept Sasuke up at night as he paced through battlefield camps.His companions were no comfort—the white creatures did not make conversation.They only knew him as their master, something to be obeyed.The magic that compelled them manipulated them until they became like clock-work dolls; acting without higher thought, carrying out some purpose demanded by others, and unfeeling except for their bloodlust.

For three years, they had been created in the caves of Madara’s realm, cultivated for viciousness and inhumanity.Madara had not deigned to tell Sasuke of their origins, but Sasuke could feel the radiating waves of malice coming off of them.Zetsus, Madara had called them.They were not human, for all that they wore the shape.Their pale white skin and wide eyes were meant for subterranean caves, not the world of men.All Sasuke needed to know was that they would obey him.They could be plants, for all he cared.So long as they completed their mission, he had little interest in their inner workings. 

Two of them stood out from the rabble, a mismatched set.They rode at the front of the line, one on each of Sasuke’s sides.One was a pale, fetid, white, just as the rest of the army was.The other was its opposite, completely black.This wasn’t the dark brown skin tone of the people of Kumogakure.No, its skin was the color of dyed black cloth, the color of the forest at midnight.There were no lingering hues, no signs of blood working beneath its flesh.It seemed to disappear at night, only visible for its bright golden eyes.

Had he become something other as well?Sasuke could not help but wonder if their strangeness, their lack of humanity rubbed off on him with each passing day.By the time they arrived at their destination, would he be unrecognizable, as far from human as the Zetsus were?

Naruto would know him for who he was, and he would know the betrayal that had been wrought.

He did not know what drew the Zetsu’s to Madara’s service, nor what separated them from the rest of the inhuman army.The pair did not speak of their lives, as men might, or what they dreamed of, what they feared, what they despised.But could give orders and make demands.And they could doubt.

Too often, Sasuke caught their leering yellow gazes trained upon him.As though they had been assigned by Madara to watch over his protégée.As if, at any moment, they expected Sasuke to break ranks and flee. 

Each time, Sasuke met the challenge in that gaze. 

Madara had no reason to suspect him of disloyalty.Madara, the progenitor of the Uchiha clan, the dark fate of the entire ill-fated line.Sasuke was now his only heir.Perhaps that was why the king-making sword of Konoha, The Forest Flame, had not chosen him.Had chosen Naruto.

For the Uchiha did not belong in Konoha. 

Orochimaru would never know why Sasuke had turned on him, striking as suddenly as any of his snakes.He had not once thought of Sasuke as anything but the perfect, pliable student.So drunk on his own power, Orochimaru had not sensed the gathering darkness beneath his own castle.

But Sasuke had not been so arrogant. 

He had felt the purring call beneath the castle, and some part of him had known that it was home.His blood had sung in response, rising in answer.

Now he rode at the head of his armies, flanked by his inhuman generals and leading a score of monsters to change the tide of history.

“We are nearing our destination,” the White Zetsu called.Ostensibly, it spoke to Sasuke: he was the commander of this expedition.But it did not even glance in his direction, its attention was wholly focused on its dark twin.

“Will you be able to do what is necessary?” the Black Zetsu asked. 

This time he looked directly at Sasuke, a leering grin in his face. 

“I know my orders,” he said.There was a churlish note in his own voice that he did not care for, as if he were a boy to be ordered around and not Madara’s only worthy heir.

“It is easy to accept a mission,” The White Zetsu said.

“It is something far different to execute it,” its counterpart finished. 

Sasuke flushed hot and furious at the insult in their words.He was their commanding officer, appointed to the post by Madra himself. 

_But you are no true leader of men.Not when all you lead are mindless beasts, ensorcelled to obey._ That voice of doubt once more.Orochimaru’s hissing tone.Sasuke wanted to beat his head against the ground to silence the slithering words of his former mentor. His voice had grown louder, as they journeyed further from the ruins of Otogakure and south, to their final destination.It was like he would never be free of Orochimaru’s influence.As though, in the end, Orochimaru had truly become immortal so long as Sasuke lived.

But with every step, Sasuke had less margin for error.The drums of war were beating and he could not fumble. 

He could not fall.

Their number journeyed slowly, a mass of several thousand.Though the Zetsus were not true humans, they had needs.They demanded rest and sustenance.They demanded meat. 

Sasuke turned a blind eye to that final need.He knew, of course, what the Black and White Zetsus led their men to do—but he turned his head away as small groups disappeared into the woods.And he did not look too closely when they came back, dotted with crimson tears of blood.

But now the time had come to do his work, to complete the first task Madara had set before him.He nodded at the Black Zetsu before peeling off from the group and riding west, towards the mountains.He did not bother giving final orders, the army would continue without him.A massive, clockwork automaton.

It was a humiliating truth that the army did not need him.That he was no true commander.That the biting words he heard in his head, the smug overtures of Orochimaru were true. It was so easy to kick his horse into a gallop, to feel the wind on his face as he charged forward.The temptation rose in him to keep going—to ride until the world forgot his name, to disappear from the volumes of history forever. 

But he could not betray the Uchiha clan so.They were owed their final justice.For Madara had shown him the truth.The Uchiha were killed to prevent them from rising up, from claiming their true nature.Itachi had merely been the instrument of King Hiruzen’s will.Left to flourish, they would have grown into greatness to rival that of the kings.Even without magic swords, they would have become a new lineage of conquerors. 

It would have been the end of Konoha as the world knew it. 

And now, as Sasuke had seen the havoc wrought by Konoha’s true masters, he could not help but feel the bite of regret in that image.The tempting call of what might had been, had Itachi never turned his blade upon his own family.Had his father lived, and they had flourished reaching their true potential.Had Konoha not cut their line down, to keep flourishing beyond its destiny.

Konoha would pay its bill.

That Naruto now sat on the throne made no difference, Sasuke told himself. 

But the image of golden hair, dirtied with blood and battlefield grime.Blue eyes looking up at him with betrayal— _again._

Sasuke kicked his horse into further speed.

He owed his family their due eulogy. 

The beats of his horse’s hooves sounded out the first notes of that lament, that would grow into a symphony with time.It sounded through the countryside, down ancient mountain paths.Sasuke could feel the pull of his brother’s power, burning on the horizon.

Some bond made in blood pulled him there.Itachi had grown in power, but it had become a perversion of the Uchiha line.There was a man amongst the Akatsuki who gave out power like libations, joining fighters in blood vows, and draining the land of its lifeforce to fuel an endless engine of magic.Itachi had tied himself to that source.

And now Sasuke would sever that tie.

But lately, Itachi’s power had become even stranger, folding in on itself, burning like a forge’s embers.The scent of rot ghosted Sasuke’s senses, as though the bond he and Itachi shared seemed to be slowly dying around him.Sasuke had felt it, a hot knife through his side only a month ago, the bond between brothers still giving him access to that information.

Sasuke had been tasked with finding the Akatsuki and ending their hold on the magic of the land, a stopper on the total control Madara desired.But even if he had not been tasked such, some part of him knew that he would make this ride at last.To face his brother for their final To see what could make a man become the sword of the enemy. 

For if it did not happen now, he knew some other death would soon claim Itachi. 

Sasuke left his horse to graze where it could, as he stepped into the snowy territory of the Akatsuki’s fortress.It was carved from stone, meant to ward away invaders.But here, the doors were held open wide, welcoming him into its stone embrace. 

Sasuke was not fooled.It was said that the master of the Akatsuki could feel the tides of fate and shape them to his will.Orochimaru had once been amongst their number, and he had recounted tales of the way that Nagato seemed to know when destruction was imminent and twist destiny accordingly.

That the doors were open for him could only mean one thing: Nagato expected his arrival.There was a grim satisfaction in that, that the struggle to ensue would be one that Nagato feared and prepared for.It was a sign of the man’s weakness. 

Sasuke braced himself for an attack as he entered the fortress.When he crossed the threshold, he flinched, expecting some unseen enemy to launch an attack.But the echoing silence of the building filled him with a greater unease.It was the poor tactician that allowed his enemy into the heart of his power, but that was exactly what Nagato did now. 

And it was a poor fighter that walked knowingly into a trap, but that was exactly what Sasuke did now. 

The vast ice antechamber of Nagato’s power was also empty, but for the pulsing heat of Nagato’s power at the center.If he looked up at it with his Sharingan it would be a blinding blaze of power, with threads stretching out to connect him to the rest of his fighters, like fingers stretching out from a palm, reaching.The power was so great that Sasuke could sense no other presence here.There was no need for honor guards or fighting men: Nagato would face him alone. 

Sasuke sword was in his hand before he reached the top. 

There was no magic barrier to stop him from rising to the top.The only greeting was a grim expectation on Nagato’s shriveled face.He knew for what purpose Madara had ordered Sasuke here. 

He could not give Nagato the advantage.Acting immediately, Sasuke lashed out, ready to drive his sword through Nagato’s throat. 

But here, finally, Nagato’s magic held him in place, stopping him in his tracks.

“I felt your arrival on the winds,” the shriveled leader of the Akatsuki said.“I expected you sooner.”His voice echoed off the walls, powerful despite the man’s weakened body.“Then you know what I’ve come here to do.”

The grave assent in Nagato’s gaze was warning enough.The first blast struck, but it seemed that Nagato had underestimated as well.Sasuke’s wards were up in the space between one breath and the next, blocking the full force of the blast. 

Still, he was thrown across the ice pillar, his feet skidding along the giant glacier for purchase.It took more of his magic to stop the skidding of his feet or he would have been pushed off the edge, down a hundred feet. 

His hands extended into claws, sharp with dark magic.Grappling for purchase against the frozen structure, driving deep grooves in its surface.

Sasuke’s time with Orochimaru had not left him unchanged.Orochimaru had demanded the exceptional from his disciples, and Sasuke had risen to the challenge.He had become something more, something darker. 

Something that no longer fit within the borders of Konoha.

Sasuke was greater than they could ever have imagined.He was what the King Hiruzen had feared most when he had ordered the demise of the Uchiha family line.

And he would not be defeated by a single mercenary, no matter how powerful. 

Sasuke lunged, rolling out of the way of another blast, racing towards Nagato and his throne.The leader of the Akatsuki could not rise to meet him—he had withered his body to create his group of followers. And it had cost him.

For Sasuke knew the secret to Nagato’s power.The lavender of his eyes was the culmination of a power of myth.Orochimaru had spoken of the Rinnegan in hushed tones of reverence—and desire.It had been the reason he had joined the Akatsuki in the first place: to gain access to that infinite power.It was the ancestor of the Sharingan, a recessive gene that appeared once a generation, once a _century._

And it had been squandered for _this_.

Orochimaru had spoken of Nagato as though he were a young, frail man, filled with ideas and magic and burning with charisma.Now he was mummified and ancient, although barely a decade had based since Orochimaru’s time amongst them. It was as though in giving out his power, he had given away too much of his life force, turning him into a frail old man before his time.The Akatsuki itself had become his sword arm.But they were not here to defend him.

Sasuke jumped, landing on the armrests of the driftwood throne, standing above Nagato.He lifted his blade before him, angled down, down, aiming for Nagato’s throat.He let the Sharingan loose, siphoning off some of his power to challenge the predator’s gaze of Nagato’s Rinnegan.

“Before you finish your work,” Nagato rasped, “a word of advice.Bargains for power are always more expensive than they seem.”

The words left him weary.Sasuke had made so many bargains, had burned through himself looking for power, for vengeance, for _answers_.But he had never once deluded himself that there would not come a time when he, too, would have to pay the price.And then it would be a matter of whether he had gained enough power to fight through the consequences and come out on the other side, something too powerful to destroy, as King Hiruzen, as Orochimaru, as Nagato all had tried to destroy him.

“I’m willing to take that gamble,” he said.

Before he could bring his blade down, silencing Nagato forever, a shriveled hand rose and grabbed the hilt of the blade.Crimson blood ran down its steel length, but the grip was firm.Firmer than it should ever have been, as atrophied as Nagato’s muscles were.

“You don’t understand,” he said.“There is no gamble.You’ve already lost.”

Then the world was fire and smoke, sending Sasuke flying.His reflexes were strong, he threw up wards seconds before he made impact with the wall.Still, the collision was enough to make the breath flee his lungs, to make his ribs crack under the force.Agony lanced through him as his head threw back, making contact with the wall.If not for his magic, his skull would have cracked. 

But when he landed, down upon the cavern floor, Sasuke could not stop.Despite the agony in his bones, the way his breathing came sharp and bloody in his throat, Sasuke ran.For the cavern was crumbling around him.The stone ceiling fell in great chunks, shattering on the ground.They bounced off the ice pillar, sending pieces of it falling with great cracks that echoed off the walls.Noise and clouds of dust filled the air, choking his vision, and dulling his hearing.

There was no time to do anything but run.His time under Orochimaru had not deprived him of the adrenaline that flooded his veins as he ran, had not broken of him of that instinctual terror.The pain in his chest was immense, but Sasuke could not stop to worry about matters so trivial as internal bleeding.

The entire fortress was falling around him.If he stopped to rest, to hesitate, he would be crushed by falling rubble. 

His lungs heaved, his breath came in short, heaving pants, and blood trickled from his nose.From his mouth.If he stopped to think of the damage that his collision with the wall had done, he would be lost.

Perhaps it did not matter.The toll his body had taken was killing him slowly. 

His pace slowed, body rebelling against the force it took to move.He could go no further. 

The walls were coming down, but Sasuke could not run any further.He leaned against the wall, pulling his way forward, barely dodging the pieces of stone that fell from above. 

There was no doubt he had done his duty to Madara—Nagato could not have survived the destruction.But this place would also be Sasuke’s tomb.

Sasuke’s muscles seized, and he coughed, choking on dust.Blood bubbled up from his mouth, although if it came from his teeth or his organs, he could not tell.The pain seemed to grow with every passing minute, as Sasuke feebly felt for his horse.

His magic could not heal.Orochimaru had no use for the weak and the broken.If his disciples were injured, they were to suffer through it or die trying.Injury was a weakness he did not permit, and so Sasuke had sharpened himself into a blade with no thought for such things.That power had only grown stronger under Madra; sharper and more honed. 

This was not a place for blades.

He was close, so close to the exit.Half-blind with dust and agony, Sasuke could still see the crisp light of the outside. 

Then a hand pulled him forward, drawing him across that last stretch of distance.

In the aftermath of the dust, and as his eyes adjusted to the light of the world around him Sasuke squinted up at his rescuer.

Blonde hair, blue eyes. 

His heart pounded and some wretched impossible relief flooded through him.But then Sasuke’s vision adjusted once again, drawing him back down to reality. 

It was not Naruto. 

Dark hair and dark eyes, pale skin meant for haunting the night. 

Itachi loomed over him, in the dark uniform of the Akatsuki. 

There was a time when Sasuke had been terrified to face his brother.His nightmares had been flooded with images of Itachi returning to the Uchiha lands to finish his work. Each morning Sasuke had woken screaming, his dagger already in his hand.

But now Itachi had saved him from a certain death.

“I warned Nagato that he would fail,” Itachi said.“That was always his flaw.He was too optimistic about his powers and too blind to the gifts of others.”

“Because you pulled me from the grips of his trap,”Sasuke replied, his voice a rasp.

Itachi’s look was pure brotherly condescension.Then, Sasuke felt it once again.The rot growing in the flame of Itachi’s power.The twisted change growing between them, that he could only sense for the bond they shared in blood. 

“There were words yet, to be exchanged between the two of us,” Itachi said.“There will not be another chance, and there are things I have to share.”

“Before you kill me?” Sasuke asked.“I would not give yourself the credit.Nagato’s blow struck true.”

“I have sent enough people to the underworld for a lifetime,” Itachi said.“And I made the choice once, to spare you.I will not undo that act now.”

“Your boss seemed to think it worth the effort,” Sasuke scoffed.It was false confidence, a performance hard-won.He was only supported by Itachi’s hand clutching the back of his shirt, he had no right to bravado.

“Nagato had no interest in details.Either one of us could have paid that blood debt, but his loyalty guided his hand.”

Confusion assaulted Sasuke, despite the exhaustion and pain that had taken over his body.

“There is a cost to being a member of the Uchiha clan.A cost that can only be borne in blood.Part of an ancient duty passed down to unwilling heir after unwilling heir.”His older brother released his hold on the shirt, and Sasuke instantly crumbled to his knees.

He wanted to slap the smug expression off Itachi’s face.Who was he to speak of blood debts and generations?

“You have no right to preach to me,” Sasuke said, his words coming bloodier with every breath. 

Something seemed to flicker beneath Itachi’s skin.With every second that passed, it was as if he descended further from humanity, from the realm of the living.It distracted Sasuke from his fury, from his pain. 

What had Itachi done to change himself so?Some brotherly tie still drew Sasuke to Itachi, as if some final information would unlock the secret history of the Uchiha massacre.

Sasuke had sworn to kill him once.With Nagato dead, it should have been an easy feat: a sword to the heart was as good for sorcerers and murderers as it was for any man.

If only he could make his muscles _work._ He was too weak to draw his blade, to strike the killing blow.

“Every three generations, our family pays a blood debt,” Itachi started again, ignoring the tumult of emotions within Sasuke.“To keep down the evil of our original sin, to guard against the cursed stain in the Uchiha family register.We seal away the evil with our lives, to keep it at bay for another generation.”

Sasuke’s ribs clenched in pain. “Ghost stories,” he scoffed.Should he be afraid of death?The pain in his ribs was deafening, and his mouth was flooded with the taste of iron.Some part of him knew, then, that soon he would be added to the register of the Uchiha dead.

“This is history,” Itachi said. “My history. Your history.For there is only one who carries the line, who begins the cycle anew.Who carries the secret burden, ready to pass down the knowledge of what is to come.”

“You killed our family for some kind of misguided religious zealotry?” Petulance rose in Sasuke's voice.He could hear it in his own voice.But this was an old wound, one that he had thought closed, seared shut with hatred.

_Blood, dripping down the stone stairs of the Uchiha manor, smeared along the wall in crimson handprints.Sasuke’s feet had grown fast, faster than he had ever run, into the great hall where his father conducted his business managing the Uchiha lands._

_To where his father laid slain, his throat cut.His wife, Sasuke’s mother, thrown along the floor like a broken doll, her dark eyes staring up at Sasuke._

_And behind them, Itachi, face smeared with that same blood, blade in hand._

Sasuke could not stop the heaving breaths at the memory, even as his ribs protested, even as it was agony and weakness and childishness.

“I failed,” Itachi shook his head.In the dying red of sunset, his face was cast in scarlet light.“I could not complete the cycle.”

 _Itachi did not look down at Sasuke as he stepped away from the bodies.He sheathed his blade, still covered in gore—why had he done that? Wasn’t Father always saying you_ had _to clean your blade or it would rust?Didn’t Itachi, his brother, his hero, know that better than anyone?_

_The only sound was Sasuke’s breath, as he tried to comprehend the scene before him.As he tried to understand that his mother would never again adjust his grip on his practice sword.That his father would never again show him how to saddle his horse._

_That his brother had been the one to end it all._

_Itachi stopped when he was next to Sasuke, facing away from the carnage he had wrought, the carnage Sasuke could not look away from._

_A pause._

_A hand rustled his hair._

_Then, Itachi Uchiha walked away from Sasuke.And Sasuke had known, then, what hate felt like._

“Why didn’t you kill me then?”It was the question Sasuke had longed to ask for years.He had secretly harbored it, resentful and furious.Itachi had spared him, left him to the mercy of a king that had ordered his family's death.Had left Sasuke to feel the pain of what he had done. 

And not once had he said _why._

In Sasuke’s visions of this moment, he had imagined cutting Itachi’s throat without a thought.He would walk away and never think of his brother again, his work would be done.He would be at peace. 

But here, in the end, Sasuke knew he was dying.There would be no final victory.And all he could hope for was answers.

“In the end, I was too weak.You should have been the one to bear that burden.If only we had waited a few years, if only there had been _time.”_ Itachi did not look down at Sasuke as he spoke, instead, staring off into the distance at the rubble of the Akatsuki’s fortress.As if he too still bore scars from that day. _“_ But I thought it would be enough, to leave one small boy behind.One irritating younger brother.A life so small that it would never have tipped the balance out of his favor.”

Then his gaze came down to look upon Sasuke, an expression drenched with sorrow.Sasuke wanted to reach up and tear the look from his brother’s face.Itachi had no right to grief. 

“I could not kill you, and thus the binds were not renewed.So long as two of us still lives, he will grow in strength until he will overwhelm the kingdoms of men and bring an end to humanity itself.”

“Who?”Sasuke tried to sound disdainful, to act as though he had no time for superstitious nonsense.But he already knew the answer, the source dark power Itachi had sought to bind.

“Madara Uchiha,” Itachi replied, crouching down until he and Sasuke were completely eye level.Sasuke saw it then: his brother knew.He could see that Sasuke had thrown his lot in with Madra, had joined his future with his own family’s history. 

Despite the death that had been paid to prevent just such a fate.

“But perhaps it is not too late,” Itachi mused.“If one of us pays the toll…perhaps it can turn the tide against him.I can feel his power growing on the horizon.The crows whisper of malice, of danger, and hatred.But he is not endless, not yet a god.”

“Then kill me if that’s what you want,” Sasuke said, baring his teeth in a challenge.“Finish Nagato’s work.Or just wait for it to take hold.” 

Itachi’s smile was familiar.It was the look he had given Sasuke when he had failed to master some new sword trick or when he had caught Sasuke running after him on the castle ramparts, desperate to follow his older brother, the squire, on his next great adventure.Sasuke could not have predicted the warmth that grew in his chest at the sight, the feeling of coming home at last.He hadn’t known he was even capable of feeling such a thing.

“That won’t be necessary,” Itachi said. “I have…committed transgressions.I have blurred the border between death and life and must pay my own cost.Nagato’s power had kept me animated beyond my right, and now I am living on borrowed power and borrowed time.”

Sasuke understood now: the perversion of Itachi’s magic.It was the only thing keeping him alive.He had done something, stretched past the burden of what was possible.But unlike Nagato and his Rinnegan, or Orochimaru and his dark experiments, or Madara and his blood rituals, Itachi had nothing to anchor himself to the earth. He was nothing but a human who had dared tread where only the gods belonged.

“What have you done?”Sasuke whispered.

“I have burned through my power to open a door to the underworld,” his brother replied.“As..a favor of sorts.I knew it would kill me.But I have sowed so much death, ended so many lives, that I could not resist extending my hand and offering life.”

Death was written all through his brother’s energy.That was the dark power Sasuke had felt, the feeling of a knife slicing through him in sympathetic agony.

“But perhaps I am a coward,” Itachi said, wry contemplative smile flitting across his features.“I had no stomach to face death.I had hoped..perhaps that I would have the chance to tell you the truth.And maybe with do more good with it than I could have.”

Sasuke laughed, blood spilling from the corners of his mouth.He would not have the chance to do anything with Itachi’s confession.If Itachi meant to die here so that Sasuke could live, so that he could stop Madara, he was twice a fool. 

“It’s a waiting game,” he said.Sudden, absurd fondness for his brother, for the memory of their childhood filled him.“Like the days when we raced across the family ground.We shall see who wins the race to death.”

Just as he had in those days when they were children, and Itachi a foot taller and yards faster than Sasuke, Itachi smiled.Like this would be their final competition and Itachi would once again display his superiority with a flourish.

Only this time, there would be no bragging rights.

“I am no healer,” Itachi said.“But I already told you—I am held together by borrowed power.And I can use it as I see fit.”

Itachi put his fingertips on Sasuke’s forehead as had when they were children; when he would flick his forehead and laugh at Sasuke’s indignant expression.

And instantly, Sasuke could feel the cool healing moving through his body.His limbs grew stronger, his muscles stopped shaking.His breathing came easier in his chest, the sharp agony fading away. 

He stood, rising to meet his brother.

“It’s your burden now,” Itachi said. 

“What is?”Sasuke could not help but ask.Something grew in his throat, some welling emotion too vast to attach a name to.

“The Uchiha destiny.Carry it better than I ever could.”

Before Sasuke could muster a response, Itachi changed.He hardened, as though he was stone—and then he was dust. 

Gone. 

* * *

Sasuke stood before the stone fortress of the Akatsuki long enough to watch the sun dip below the horizon.The sunset was beautiful, a bloody splash of red stretching across the massive sky.He watched as it faded into a spattering of stars. 

What did he wait for?Sasuke would never be sure.But wait he did, standing in the freezing darkness of the evening.He knew his brother would never return, but still, some part of Sasuke waited.As if there would be one more chance. 

To go back to how it had been before, when they were young and he had run wild and fearless, knowing his brother held the problems of the world on his shoulder, leading the way for him into the future.

Before that future had been drenched in blood. 

He waited long enough to wonder if the Akatsuki would ever return to their camp if they even cared that their leader had been crushed to death.He waited for riders, horsemen, an infantry.But there was nothing until a sudden scream ripped through the horizon.

It sounded from the depths of the ruins, sharp enough to cut through a mountain of rubble.

High and feminine and breaking with grief.

This was the signal he needed to ride before that avenging mourner came seeking the source of her master’s death.Sasuke mounted Chidori, his black gelding, and kicked him into motion.Chidori navigated more than Sasuke did, galloping back to camp where feed and water waited. 

Sasuke let the horse take the lead, still replaying the image of his brother’s death over and over again in his head.His family had died to seal Madara away.

And now he rode back to the army that he led in Madara’s name. 

When he arrived, the Black Zetsu stood watch on the border of camp.He had no words for Sasuke as he stood like a pillar of obsidian in the dark shadow of their campground. Watching him with golden glittering eyes, expectant.

Sasuke nodded once.He had done his duty. 

The Black Zetsu nodded back, pleased in its own alien way. 

It could read none of the turmoil beneath Sasuke’s skin.But a spike of anxiety still grew in his throat, as he imagined the Black Zetsu informing on him to Madara. 

He rode into camp silently, to a place where no one waited anxiously for his return.There was nothing human about their number, no shared experience the mass conformity between the alien manpower of the Zetsus. 

Sasuke could not imagine such a connection.With Itachi’s death, Sasuke was the only living member of the Uchiha clan. 

But for Madara.Madra who his brother had killed to seal away, who his parents had given their lives to stop.To save a kingdom that cared nothing for the sacrifices of his family. 

It was a betrayal of their memory to serve Madara, the dark power they had been determined to seal away. 

The White Zetsu stood before Sasuke’s tent, holding a tightly wound scroll of paper.He held it out for Sasuke’s inspection. It was closed with Madra’s wax seal, a black circle imprinted with the circular pattern of the Sharingan. 

It was a betrayal of his family’s sacrifice to serve Madra, but it would be far worse treason to let the kingdom of Konoha enjoy that sacrifice.To let it continue standing on a foundation of bones and grave dirt, demanding a single family’s deaths generation after generation.

Sasuke wound the scroll back up, tucking it into the pouch at his belt.

“Tomorrow we double our speed,” he said. 

The White Zetsu seemed pleased.Whatever passed for a smile crossed its features, slightly too wide and baring sharp, shiny teeth, making it look even further from human.With a pleased laugh, it disappeared into the night. 

Sasuke did not have time to puzzle the mysteries of the Zetsu’s motivation or what bought it such amusement.He had to rest.

For tomorrow the army would resume their journey south, to Konoha.


	24. xxi. when we wondered with all our souls, what the world was

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A journey to the underworld.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter I have been dying to write since I started this fic! It took me WAY longer to get here than I ever thought but it's here and I did and now we are on the REAL downward slope to the end of this story!!! I hope you enjoy it!!! I listened to Ceremonials by Florence and the Machine probably 90 times while writing it.

xxi. when we wondered with all our souls, what the world was

Sakura opened her eyes to a world without color.It was as though the world had flipped, and she hung in the sky, a sea of white stars on black void below her.Her stomach lurched at the sight of the bottomless void hanging below her, and she fell to her knees momentarily.But she was not falling, merely hanging in place, her feet supported on some invisible path.Above her the nothingness continued, broken only by the dots of stars, swirling against the sky in arcs of clusters and patterns. She let out a sigh of wonder, of curiosity, and her breath was visible against the black backdrop. She let out a sigh of wonder, of curiosity, and her breath was visible against the black backdrop.

It was cold here.This was not the cold of winter, warded off by layers of warm clothes.This was a cold that seemed to seep into her very core, so cold it seemed to burn into her muscles and bones.

It was instinct to reach for her magic to warm herself up—an easy trick and one of the first things Tsunade had taught her.But instead of the familiar flicker of her magic, Sakura felt a nothingness as vast as the darkness between the stars that hung in the sky all around her.She had bargained that power away as her ticket for safe passage to this endless expanse.

She should have been afraid.She should have been devastated to feel her magic, so hard-won at such great cost, utterly gone.

But Sakura turned her gaze to a massive white light, an explosion against the darkness around them.It was to that point that the stars seemed to swirl, tight bands of white pinprick lights starting from that explosion and spreading out until they filled the vastness of space.She did not need magic to know what waited for her her there—some deeper instinct, as powerful as death itself drew her to that bright light.

She took a deep steadying breath and began her journey towards that massive supernova in the middle of space.

To where she knew she would find Kakashi.

* * *

Empires could have crumbled in the time that Sakura walked, the seas could have risen, the sands of time could have covered Konoha and everyone she had ever known.

The walk was endless, as vast as the night sky, but Sakura did not tire and she did not waver.

Her eyes were trained ever forward, at that brilliant white light.The path did not change, though it turned, winding right and left like a snake sunning itself beneath the summer’s high heat.She followed it, drifting right and left, ever forward through the endless expanse, certain that at its center she would find what she sought.

Until, suddenly, it changed.

In the space of one step and the next, the shape of space turned in on itself, and Sakura’s world spun and distorted.Flashes of white overpowered her vision and then expanded. 

When the churning stopped, Sakura was in the desert.The black expanse of sky had disappeared, replaced with the grey-green light of a coming storm.Instead of the warm yellow sand of the Sunagakure desert, the sands here were crimson red and marked with black, as though they were rich in iron.The moon hung heavy and full in the sky, risen too early for the daytime light.But still, the colors were muted and dull, as though only a shadow of what they would have been in life.

The only break to the flat horizon was a figure silhouetted against the green light of the sun.Sakura’s stomach churned.She knew this was not Kakashi; his afterlife would never be so sterile, so dry. 

Sasori of the Red Sands stepped forward, his smile wide like he greeted an old friend.But Sakura did not relax.His eyes flashed with a hidden, churning rage, as though he had waited long to reunite with the one who had brought him to his death.

“I did not think I would greet you here for many years yet,” he said.He had not changed in death; his skin was still that perfect creme porcelain, his eyelashes a devastating relief against the amber of his eyes.“But perhaps that was arrogance on my part.I had hoped that my final opponent would not be brought down so easily.”

Sakura recoiled at the familiar welcome in his words.As though there was some bond between them, tying her to him even after death. 

“You would not be welcome in my afterlife,” she said, her spine straight, determined to keep her emotions from her face.Fury twisted in her as she remembered the attacks on Sunagakure, the injured that he had left behind.The way he had turned Konoha into his puppets, to dance at his tune, turning them upon each other into battle.“You are nothing to me—just a particularly violent footnote.”

“Ah, but you are everything to _me_ , lady knight,” he purred.“It is a pity we never had time to see what atrocities we could commit together.After all, what could be more intimate than murder?To die at your hands…no, that is an ancient bond, as old as any myth.”

“You are not who I came here to seek,” she said.“If I am bonded, it is not to _you.”_

“You _chose_ to come here,” Sasori gasped, a mocking performance.Somehow, he was much more animated in death than in life.As if having left behind his unchanging puppet body, he had unleashed a full spectrum of personality.

Sakura was not sure she liked the change.

Here, in his personal afterlife, Sasori was faster than he ever had been in life.He held all of the power in this red realm of dirt and sand.He appeared behind her in the space between one blink and another.Sasori’s hand was on her throat, his fingers the cold touch of the grave.Sakura tensed automatically, ready for an assault.But he did not press down, did not wrap those clever puppeteer’s hands around the column of her throat.He merely felt for the touch of a pulse, the warmth of her still-living flesh. 

“You _do_ still live,” he said, a hushed reverent sigh of awe.“How long, I wonder.This desert cannot sustain the living for long.How long will it be until you starve?How long will you last until this place claims even one such as you.”

She stepped out of his grasp, her skin burning from the touch.She wanted to slap him for coming so close, for behaving in so familiar a fashion.He had no right to knowledge of her true purpose here, no claim on her destiny. 

“I will be leaving,” she spat.“When I get what I came here for.Now leave.You are in my way,”

A wicked grin grew on Sasori’s face, thin and wide, and baring the tips of a row of teeth too perfect and too sharp.“You have been tricked, then,” he said.“Whoever sent you here trapped you down here.The power it would take to leave this place…it would be unthinkable.But you, you have gambled your power away, haven’t you?I can feel its absence.You are trapped here.”

Sakura stepped back, horror washing over her. 

“Once, you burned with it, the potential within you a tiny sun of possibility.But now,” Sasori’s look was one of condescending disdain.“Now you are nothing.”

Sakura had crossed the divide into death with nothing.She had no armor to defend herself with, no weapons to attack.But that did not stop her from lunging forward and punching Sasori with every ounce of strength she could muster.She did not have magic to make herself stronger or protect her knuckles from the pain of impact, but she was still trained for battle.Her muscles had still been honed by hundreds of hours on the training field, in the rain, and in the snow, to make her strong enough to face any foe.

There was a satisfying crack as her fist made contact with Sasori’s face.Sakura’s smile was grim as his head swung back at the force of the blow.

He staggered back, fighting for balance.When he finally righted himself, blood trickled from his nose.But when he stood before her, the mocking light was gone from his eyes.His smile had slipped away into something darker.The rage she had seen simmering in his gaze had been unleashed.

And when he spoke, it was as though his words came from far away.The volume, the timbre of his voice were all magnified by the power of the vengeful dead.“You seek to control powers you don’t understand,” he bellowed, the force of his words blasting against her.Sand whipped at her feet, and Sakura had to close her eyes against the onslaught.“You don’t even understand why you’re here, girl.You cared for nothing but power, and killed the man who would love you.”

Pain shot through Sakura’s chest at the accusation.She was here to undo that, but it did not assuage the guilt or soothe the blame in her soul.She and Kakashi had never spoken of their relationship, not in terms of love and of futures.It had been an unspoken promise that their relationship would end. 

It had been at Kakashi’s insistence, and she, the fool had allowed it. She had been utterly blind to the fact that their relationship had become so much more than a few warm nights spent in his bedroll.He had become essential to her.In the space between Sunagakure and Konoha, she had become unable to imagine her life untwined with Kakashi.She had only been too blind to see it.

But he had let her go—for her own sake.Because he had seen himself as a burden, as though his presence in her life would derail her career, would hold her back from seeking ever more power, all while he promised to protect her.All while he felt that same burning connection, had known the contents of his own heart far better than Sakura ever could have. 

And she had killed him.

“Why have you come here to disturb the dead?” Sasori continued.“To soothe your own _guilt?”_

The last word hit her like one of Deidara’s explosions, physically blasting against her with Sasori’s power.Sakura had to wrap her arms around herself, to protect herself against the force of the accusation.Tears streamed from her eyes, and she choked back an urgent sob. 

It was true.She had come here for herself, not Kakashi.She had wanted Kakashi back.She had wanted to see him one more time, to beg him for forgiveness, to tell him that he had made her brave, had made impossible odds seem like nothing so long as he was by her side, to tell him that she lo—

Sakura screamed her fury.At Sasori, at Danzo, at King Hiruzen and his wretched legacy, at the Akatsuki and their infinite power, at Sasuke, at Naruto. 

At Tsunade, for dying and leaving her unmoored and without guidance. 

At Kakashi, for letting her go.For not being invincible when her knife had slid unwittingly between his ribs.

“You think to challenge me,” Sasori said, his voice once again that even purr.“Here, where I am infinite and you a powerless living thing-“

“Enough.”

The voice came from behind, rich and deep with wisdom, with the

“She killed you once,” Tsunade said, resting a comforting hand on Sakura’s shoulder.The touch was cool and soothing, a balm compared to the icy brush of the grave that had been Sasori’s fingertips. “It seems unnecessary to repeat the ordeal only to satisfy your masochism.”Then Tsunade snapped her fingers and Sasori’s shade was gone. 

The silence in the desert was an assault. 

“What are you doing here?” Sakura asked, her voice breaking with every word.

“You called to me and I came,” Tsunade replied, as though that explained anything.“I could feel the tug of your thoughts—of your anger.”A wry smile, then: “Don’t think I wasn’t young once.I understand your anger—the older generation is never supposed to die.And yet we must.Time does not care for the whims of mortals.”Tsunade looked at her hands, untouched by age even in death.

“But I never quite believed I would be the _old_ generation.” 

The sound out of Sakura’s mouth was a mangled between a laugh and a sob.“I never thought you were old,” she said. 

“You always were a good student.The best, really.”

The image of Tsunade’s death replayed in Sakura’s mind again, as it had since the attack on Konoha; a wretched loop that she could not escape.The cloying scent of smoke once again burned in her lungs, overpowering her sentences.Tsunade stepping forward, her stride brimming with purpose as she grabbed the Akatsuki’s monster by the forearm, as she ignited it, burning through her powers. 

As she fell to the ground, utterly spent.

Sakura’s body moved unbidden.She wrapped her arms around Tsunade, a warmer embrace than anything they had shared as teacher and student.

“I’m sorry,” she sobbed into Tsunade’s chest.“I wasted it all.You died because of me and I threw it all away.” 

“You wasted nothing,” Tsunade hushed.“It wasn’t your fault.I had…brought too much of the fire into myself that day.There are limits to how far a person’s power can stretch, and I hit mine.”Seeing Sakura’s face, still split with anguish, she rested her hand against Sakura’s cheek. 

“It was my choice,” she repeated. “Sometimes the realm calls for more than we are ready to give.And sometimes we must rise to the call, to protect the things we love.”Gently, she extracted herself from Sakura’s arms.“But our time isn’t infinite and this is my last chance to instruct.”She clucked her tongue, looking over the desolate desert scenery.Sasori’s realm, not Tsunade’s.

“Perhaps a change of scenery would be best,” she said, considering.“Somewhere more conducive to conversation.”The world shifted on its axis once more, and when it righted they were in Tsunade’s office.Springtime sunlight streamed through the glass of the windows, casting golden squares of light across Tsunade’s massive oak desk. 

They sat across from each other in plush, comfortable armchairs, as they had in the days when Sakura had been instructed in healing and anatomy, in politics and intrigue.It was like coming home, like having a chance at the abandoned past once more.A pot of tea rested in the hearth, merrily steaming with no care for the fact that this was the land of the dead.

It was comfort, but a twinge of impatience rushed through Sakura.Kakashi was still out there.She had to find him, before whatever magic had sent her here ran out—or before she had spent too long in the world of the dead to return to the world of the living.

“Life asks all of us the bear more than our share. But I had hoped to spare you,” Tsunade said.“You have already carried the weight of Konoha on your shoulders too young and too early.You should never have been in that desert alone, facing Sasori of the Red Sand.”

This steady rhythm relaxed Sakura, and she was no longer the Sakura who had journeyed to the underworld, who had faced the Akatsuki without fear.She was again the young student, and petulant enough to bristle at the comment.But before Sakura could protest, a fond smile was breaking across Tsunade’s face.

“Of course I’m proud of you,” she said.“You did what some of Konoha’s finest knights could not, what the king of Sunagakure himself could not manage.And now I must ask the impossible of you again.” “I can’t,” Sakura said.“I-I have no magic. I bargained it away to come here.To right the wrongs I have already set into motion.A-a good man is dead because of me.”

Tsunade’s wide face was made for laughter and confident smirks.But when Tsunade stared back at her now, Sakura could feel the piercing intensity of the woman who had become regent, who had united a divided castle in the wake of Orochimaru’s violence and had never, not once, backed down from a challenge.

“I, too, lost the man I loved once.”

Sakura’s face flushed.

“But I did not do as you have done.It was not available to me—we have entered an age of inversion when magic has stretched beyond what was ever possible.But even so, I do not know if I would have paid the cost.”

Shizune had spoken of Tsunade’s grief as though it were a third companion, invisible and ever-present, watching over Tsunade’s shoulder.Sakura could not imagine her mentor clinging so to power, over the life of Dan, who had died in some foreign war without the chance at a healer.

“I would not choose my power over his life,” Sakura said, her voice barely a whisper.“I could not.And I do not think you could do so either.”

Pity flashed across Tsunade’s face, sharp and then gone in an instant.

“You are not the only one who bore a cost that day,” Tsunade said gently.“From death, it is easy to see what goes on in the world of the living.”

Sakura’s stomach plummeted as she thought of Itachi’s hands, gently leading her to the pond in the salt flats.Of the way, his power had been an inferno that had opened up the gates to the underworld for her.

She did not want to think of him punished for his aid.

“Itachi made his choice,” Tsunade said, seeing the turmoil beneath Sakura’s skin.“It is a season for hard choices—for war approaches and all of Konoha will have to decide where their loyalties lie.”

“We have no real enemies!” Sakura protested, before remembering that she was no longer part of Konoha.That it had forsaken her, had made her a criminal.That her duty to that place had died when her blade slid through Kakashi’s ribs.“Konoha’s alliance with Sunagakure is strong, and the Kingdom of Waves would never invade such an alliance.There are no other major powers on our borders, and any other invasions would be too costly to launch without good reason.”

“You have learned well,” Tsunade said, a wry smile on her lips.Sakura flushed as she realized that she simply parroted Tsunade’s lessons back at her.This comfort of this place had turned her back into the precocious student, eager to prove herself.“Dark power rises in the north.An army of monsters rides south to Konoha, death on their banner.”

Instantly, she remembered the white monster she had faced on her journey to the Akatsuki’s hideout.The hunger that had lit its eerie yellow eyes. 

The thought of more, of their number marching on Konoha, on the city of her youth…

“I-“ she did not know what to say.Some deeper instinct warred with her.It was home, the land of her childhood, the place where her family still resided.But she had also severed her ties, had chosen a path far from that of a knight of the realm. 

“We are so alike,” Tsunade said, rising from her desk.She extended a hand to Sakura.Like a child, her fingers trembling, Sakura took the offered guidance. “Don’t make the mistakes I did.” 

“I am useless to them,” Sakura said.“I’m a criminal and worse.And I no longer have the power that you trained me for.It’s—it was a fair bargain.” 

“Oh Sakura,” Tsunade said.“You are stronger than you know.And there are some things you cannot simply give away.”

She brought Sakura in for an embrace, and Sakura knew it was their final goodbye.When Tsunade released her, the world had changed once more and they stood before the massive supernova, so massive it eclipsed all else in the sky. Some sharp edge caught in her heart as Sakura realized she had left that place for the final time.The room itself had been dismantled and defiled by Danzo, leaving her with nothing but memories.It too had been relegated to the realm of death.

“Take back what you came here for,” Tsunade said, her voice gentle.“And tell him that if he ever hurts you, I’ll haunt him to his next grave.”

How Tsunade knew of her relationship with Kakashi, Sakura would never know.But it was enough to hear that protective ferocity from her mentor one more time,

“I will,” Sakura said, unable to stop her tears. 

Tsunade kissed her on the forehead.“A gift.For the road,” she said. And Sakura could feel an ember of magic burn in her once more.Borrowed, and nothing more. 

But if circumstances turned dire, it would be just enough for her mentor to save her, one last time. 

* * *

Forest opened up before her like an open door, unfolding as the black of the sky faded into the white of the supernova.The endless expanse of trees, bursting with life, were the muted green of the final days of summer before the leaves changed into autumn’s radiant red.But she knew this place: this was the forest that surrounded Konoha. The woods where she and Kakashi had first begun this thing between them.

She had reached her destination.

She had thought nothing of tearing through time and space, of giving up her magic to find this place.But now, terror burned through her at the thought of facing Kakashi.Would he resent her?Did he hate her already, here in this endless afterlife?

Would he look at her with the same unbridled fury of Sasori, with the rage of the resentful dead?

Tsunade had come to her as she had sensed Sakura in danger.But Sakura had also called out for Kakashi every step of the way.She had thought of him the instant she appeared in this place desperate to find him.

And he had spurned her.

She walked as if in a trance, her body immune to the turmoil that assaulted her spirit. It navigated through the woods as if her body knew the way to Kakashi. 

And then she stopped.

“When will you settle down Kakashi?”A high feminine voice broke through the forest.“If you and Might Guy keep going like this, you’ll have seduced every tavern girl in the city.And then who will have you?” 

Sakura froze in place.She could see the flicker of campground fire around the trunks of trees.To go forward would be to intrude on this place, this companionship. 

“Well maybe if you asked nicely, I’d finally make an honest woman of you.”Kakashi. 

His voice hit her like a wave, knocking her off balance.He sounded so different yet familiar, teasing and brash, and…relaxed.

“I’d never ask you to do the impossible,” the woman replied, and Sakura heard a dark, masculine chuckle.“There are some things even _you_ can’t do.”

“And some things he wouldn’t _dare.”_ Another man’s voice, sightly reedier than Kakashi’s.“Rin deserves better than a rake like you.”This sent off another round of laughter in their group.

Sakura’s hands shook as she brought them to her lips.Tears threatened to overtake her yet again.What right did she have to intrude on this place?This afterlife, where Kakashi teased and laughed.He had joked with her, had teased her as she had struggled at setting camp with the guard, had whispered raunchy secrets in her ear in the dark of night.

But he had never sounded so light.So happy.

Sakura forced herself to move from her hiding place behind an oak tree, to peek along its trunk.

Three figures circled a campfire, relaxed, and content.A woman with brown hair, cut in a practical bob, sat in the middle.She had a face made for easy laughter and ready smiles.Beside her, looking down at her like she was the center of his entire world, was a man Sakura did not recognize. But his dark hair and heavy features marked him as a member of the Uchiha clan.

Then Sakura’s vision narrowed on white hair and dark grey eyes. Even here he was masked, but that did not disguise the handsome cut of his cheekbones, the perfect arch of his brow.He lounged against the trunk of a tree, a book in one hand.There was laughter in his gaze, and his shoulders were relaxed as they never had been in life.

She realized then, who his companions were.Rin and Obito, or the version of themselves that might have been, had their path never been marked with death and they had made it to adulthood.Here, Kakashi was not knight-captain of the guard, burdened with the heavy mantle of duty.Instead, he was a regular knight, free to roam and drink and make choices for no reason than to satisfy his desires.

Sakura’s heart clenched.She had no right to intrude on this place, on this afterlife.She had wanted to take him back, had wanted to drag him with her to the world of the living.All so she would not have to be without his presence, without his teasing instruction and the serious way he set up camp in the evenings.Without the feel of his hands in her hair, the sound of his dry laugh as he leaned his head against her shoulder in the grey light of morning.

Somehow, he had become so essential to her, and she hadn’t even known until he was gone.And now, here, she found him content, satisfied, in a world of might-have-beens and ghosts.

She would not mourn him.

She would not claim him. 

When they had returned from their journey to Sunagakure, Sakura had not let Kakashi go.Not truly.In her heart, Sakura had ignored Kakashi’s insistence that their relationship end.She had planned to take him back when he had finally let go of his silly ideas about chivalry and self-denial.It had seemed a simple roadblock, a pause in some childish game between them. 

She had been a fool not to feel the intensity that burned between them, to notice the way that he had taken over her heart.

But she could not take him away from this.Tears again, then.Sakura was so sick of fighting back her tears, of shoving sorrow down and bravely facing the day.She had been so sick of mourning that she had torn a path through the world, blazing through the laws of man and nature to reach through the underworld and do the impossible and defy the laws of death itself.

But now, she couldn’t.The only thing stopping her was the same engine that had sent her down this path, that she had gambled everything for. 

Sakura could never be so selfish as to tear him away from this peace; this world where he had never watched Obito died.Where he had never watched in horror as his blade slid through Rin Nohara’s ribs.

Sakura stepped forward, to disappear into the woods and find her way back to the bridge through the stars and back to the world of the living.Back to war and duty and mourning. 

Until her foot stepped on some piece of kindling, and the sound of snapping branches filled the air.

Even here, Kakashi’s instincts were instantaneous.His head turned to look in her direction, immediately alert to danger. 

Their eyes locked across the forest clearing.

Kakashi rose to his feet. 

Sakura stood rooted in place, unable to tear her gaze away from the look in his eyes.An expression she had never seen played out across in those familiar storm-grey eyes.As though he had ridden a thousand miles, had fought an entire war in the space of their last meeting.

As though he had come home at last. 

“Sakura,” he breathed, and suddenly the way he said her name was the only sound in the entire world.It crashed against her like a full moon tide, and every inch of resolve in Sakura shattered at once.She was running to him, her body making the choice for her, crashing through underbrush and tripping over roots.

His arms met her as she threw herself against him, wrapping around her, tangling his limbs around hers.Solid and warm and _here._

A thousand sentences ran through her head, each of them insufficient for the weight of her emotions. 

_I came for you._

_I’m sorry._

_I love you._

So she clung to him and sobbed, uncaring as the ghosts of his past stood witness. 

Until there was a shift, and the earth itself seemed to shake beneath her feet.Kakashi gripped her to him protectively, as both their attention directed back to the world, trying to decipher the way the world had begun to tear down around them.

Obito and Rin had stood, one on each side of them.They stood eerily straight, like soldiers waiting at attention. “Your anchor has lost his grasp on the mortal world,” Rin spoke first, her voice thick with authority.“Your time here is running out.”

“My power is gone,” Sakura said.“There is no way out.”

Humanity cracked through Rin’s expression, and she gave Sakura an arresting smile.“The dead have power here, and the dead decide who stays and who goes.”

The world turned again, and water rose along the forest floor, seeping through the underbrush and flooding the roots of trees.The tide had come to claim her.

“You must make a choice.”Obito now, with that same grave, distant tone.His gaze was directed at Kakashi, not Sakura.“She has bargained for you, to give you one more chance.Do you accept?”

“I do,” Kakashi said without a moment’s hesitation.

“Are you sure?” Sakura breathed.“You don’t want to stay here?”

The grey storm of Kakashi’s eyes met hers, piercing in their seriousness. 

“This is a half-dreamt world of what could have been.How could I choose that over a life properly lived by your side?However you would have me, I would choose it a thousand times over.”

Sakura peeled his mask off before kissing him, sinking into the soft feel of his lips against hers, the rough edge of his stubble. 

“Yes,” she said, “yes.” 

His smile was teasing and bright as he drank in the sight of her.“I was hoping you hadn’t come here just to turn me down.”Then, his arms still wrapped around Sakura, he turned his gaze upon Obito.

“I’m sorry,” he said.“There are things still waiting for me in the land of the living.We will have to continue this reunion another time—in a few decades, I hope.”

Sakura’s heart sank at his words, as she remembered all over again the light leaving his eyes, the moment he had left her for death.It wouldn’t be forever, no life could stretch on without end. 

But she tightened her arms around him and swore to herself that she would not let him go.Not for another moment of the time they had left together, be it mere days or long decades.The water had risen to their knees now, the campfire was submerged but still burning.

“Go,” Obito and Rin spoke in unison, their words melding into one chant. 

“Live.”

Instantly the water overtook them, flooding her lungs.The forest faded into its dark depths, and Sakura clung to Kakashi, as the current tried to tear them apart. 

As a girl, Sakura had learned to swim in the Naka River.One day, when she was merely five and still unsteady on her own feet and unsure of her weight and how it worked in water, she had been torn from her father’s arms.Sakura did not remember that moment, or how she had been found nearly an hour later, shivering and terrified, clinging to a rock.

But she did remember the feeling of being pulled, of a dark cold current, dragging her on its own agenda, uncaring of the way she struggled against it’s grasp. 

The river of death pulled her, even as she clung to Kakashi.Some instinct told her that if she could not hold on, if she failed this test, they would be parted forever. So Sakura hung on until her arms were numb until the only feeling in her body was the curve of Kakashi’s chest against her cheek.His arms were wrapped around her crushingly tight as if he too could sense the danger here.

But they would not be parted.

Even as the water-filled her lungs, as her consciousness threatened to blackout against the edges of her vision, she would not allow it.

And then all at once, their heads crashed through the surface.Sweet air filled her lungs, tinged with salt.She took great, heaving breaths, all the while still holding onto Kakashi as though at any moment he could be swept away into the sea.They stumbled against the sand, trying to find purchase as waves crashed into them, knocking against them over and over as they made their slow journey onto solid land.

But they had made it.This was no corridor in the land of death, no final trick of the underworld.She could feel it in the way her clothes clung to her body, as the way they cold chilled around them.She could feel it in the taste of the salt-breeze air and the moon that hung in the sky above them.In the vibrance of the colors and the distance of the stars in the sky—far, far above them.

She could feel it in the way Kakashi held onto her, his body warm against hers.And she could feel it in the salt on his lips as he swept her up into another kiss.

Alive.They were alive. 


	25. IV. Fourth Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this took forever to update!!! Something about this chapter seemed important to get right and it slowed, plus I had a hangover from all the drama of the last chapter. I (think) chapters are going to be shorter from now on, as we race towards ~ the end ~ (but as I say that I KNOW I am tempting fate and now that I have said that they are going to get longer :/ ).
> 
> Thank you again for all your comments! We live in wild times right now so I hope you guys are all doing well and all you and yours are healthy and safe... <3 !!

IV. Fourth Interlude

Winter reached Konoha like an advance guard, the chill setting in as Sasuke’s army advanced into the heart of Konoha’s territory.The snow crunched under his mount’s hooves as he approached home, leader of the writhing mass of fighters that extended out a mile behind him. 

The Zetsu army had claimed the high ground.From his cliffside vantage point, Sasuke could see the capital itself nestled at the foot of the mountains.The rebuilt castle peeked out from a cluster of houses, the first signs of humanity in a forest deadened by the cold.

It looked so exposed, so open to attack, surrounded by the dark, clawing trunks of dead winter trees.The great forest of Konoha was its first line of defense—but that did not come without disadvantages.An advancing army, lead by one who knew the forest, could use it to disguise and disorient.They would pick off scouting groups, setting small traps through the forest to restrict defenses.

Just as Sasuke had done.They had no idea that their supply lines had been cut off, that trade had been stymied, that now Sasuke himself had arrived with the winter, seeking payment for the debt it owed him.A debt that could only be paid in blood.

Fury burned in Sasuke’s heart at the sight of his target.It was the city his brother had killed for.It was the city he had died for.But his brother’s death had only left him with more questions than answers.With the Akatsuki, Itachi had also attacked this place.And with his dying breath he had told Sasuke to question Madra, that he died to seal him away and stop the plan that Madra and he had laid, so carefully. 

And for what?

What about this place could be worth dying for?

The city was made for sieges, but Sasuke knew its every curving street, every crack in its armor.And he knew, that as the villages had burned this summer, and as the price of food rose, it could not withstand a siege.Madara had been slow, nurturing his vengeance for generations in the dark heart of Orochimaru’s castle, where he had been entombed.In those days, the alliance between the frozen Kingdom of Mist and Konoha had been strong.When the second Senju king had sealed him away, their alliance had been strong.Now that kingdom was nothing but a proliferation of warring mercenary states, further tipped into chaos by Orochimaru’s power grab and the creation of Otogakure.

Now, after the Zetsus had cut their wide swathe of carnage through the northern kingdom, it would be years before the kingdom could recover.The Akatsuki and Orochimaru’s demise would leave a power vacuum to be filled by warlords. 

But it would be worth the cost.

Sasuke snapped his spyglass shut and hung it from his belt.A lone rider on horseback could make it to Konoha in a day if he took the King’s Road.The army would take longer, its pace a slow crawl of death.To hide their advance they would have to take a winding path, laying traps in their wake.

Sasuke knew the Zetsu’s nature well enough by now to know what a state they would be in by the time they arrived.Hungry and burning with bloodlust. 

People he had known, people he had fought beside, would die in the onslaught. 

Naruto would die.

Sasuke’s fingers clenched around the spyglass as he tried to imagine Naruto’s wide blue eyes, open but unseeing.Perhaps he would die in the great hall, before the throne he had never been meant to rule from.No—far more likely that he would charge into battle, eager to prove himself on the frontlines.He would never tolerate being locked away in safety while his friends faced death.

To overturn the past, the king was a necessary sacrifice.Sasuke had always known the realities of power.

Why then, did his teeth clench at the thought?Did his fingers curl so tightly around the bras spyglass, until they bit into the flesh of his palm?

The Black Zetsu seemed to appear from nowhere at Sasuke’s side, a smug grin stretching across its face.Sasuke was careful to school his expression as he met its eerie yellow gaze.He did not trust it.The winds had picked up, coming in from the north and bringing with them the scent of rot and grave-dust. 

“The Master approaches,” it said.It’s yellow gaze flicked across Sasuke’s face expectantly as if waiting for some show of weakness.But Sasuke had already sensed Madara’s dark approach.He had felt it on the southerly winds as the moon had grown full and knowing above them.He had felt it in his bones as the temperature had dropped night after night.Madara’s power had grown of late.

This was no time for hesitation.

Weeks had passed since his confrontation with Itachi, and in that time questions had festered in him like an open wound.He had been chosen as the advance guard, the leader of Madara’s armies in his quest to shape a new world.A world without the fetid anarchy of kingdoms and the petty tyrants at their head.

A world where the powerful would not be forced to kneel for the weak.

A world his family had died to prevent.

There was no such loyalty for the old order burning within Sasuke.He saw nothing in Konoha worth laying his life down for, worth watching the throats of his family be opened up into wide bloody smiles one by one.Nothing to justify a slaughter that ushered in each generation of the Uchiha family to a new turn in the cycle of violence.

Sasuke rode through the army’s ranks.The Zetsus had set up small camps, dotting the landscape with little fires.Some of them had even taken up cooking, with small pans in the middle of their fire, charring meat of unknown origins.It unnerved him to see them begin to take on distinct personalities.When they had left the north, the Zetsus had been one uniform mass, standing at attention and marching in straight rows.Now they had become more human, more unpredictable.

He did not know what that meant for when they began their assault on Konoha.

The last camp of Zetsus marked a change into the deeper, older part of the forest. Here the tree growth was ancient, and he could hear the roaring sound of the Naka river as it tumbled over the side of the cliffs feeding a massive waterfall.Even in winter, the massive trunks of trees were dotted with moss and lichen.The air seemed colder as it bit into his lungs with new vigor.His horse, Susanoo, whickered softly in anticipation as they approached Madara.It, too, could feel his master’s presence and it did not like what neared. 

But for all the power that seemed to fill this place, Madara was a single figure resting at the trunk of a tree.He wore dark, ancient furs, thrown over his shoulder as any man would, as if he too sought to ward off the cold. 

Sasuke dismounted, bowing before his liege.As he rose, he examined the Uchiha progenitor for signs of displeasure.He would tolerate no uncertainty in his followers, certainly not in the Zetsus and not in the sole living member of his family line.But there was nothing on Madara’s face but grim, resigned exhaustion.

Madara had changed in the time since he left the castle.When Sasuke had first uncovered him, he had been half a corpse; as shriveled as Nagato and entombed beneath the Otogakure castle library. 

In the two years since then, he had regained some of his life.When Sasuke had seen him last, his hair had still been pure white, and though his face had gained some of its vitality, it was still ravaged by the vestiges of time.vvNow, his hair was as dark as Sasuke’s.The years had shed from his face and he looked to be no older than a man in his late forties.But there were still dark shadows beneath his eys, and for all his new health, he seemed to exude weariness.The earth beneath him was darkened and hewn with cracks as if he had drawn upon the earth itself to recover from his journey.

Madara was still not at the zenith of his power.

“This is an ancient place,” Madara said, indifferent to Sasuke’s approach.“These trees were here when I was a boy, even then too massive to wrap a man’s arms around.”

“They call it the Kingmaker’s grove,” Sasuke replied, impatient.After he had killed Orochimaru, his appetite for pedantic lectures had faded into nothing.He knew this place, had seen it on every map of the forest in his days as a page.Kakashi had told them it was a haunted place and refused to even ride through it.

Madara snorted at the name. 

“I first met Hashirama Senju in this place,” he said.“We once swore to build a new world here and sealed our pact in blood.I suppose the kingdom that is his legacy has not forgotten _all_ of the old ways.”

“Until they sealed you away,” Sasuke said.“Until they decided that they had no use for you, for the entire Uchiha family in the history books of Konoha.”

But Madara was still caught in his eulogy for the past.“We should have ushered in an era of peace.In those days the land was divided into bickering tribes, each desperate to climb over the other on the long road to dominance.There could be no trust, no history.It was a world of thinking only of tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, surviving through famine and war and battle and death and tragedy.We had sworn to rebuild, to make something better in our own image.”He stopped as if to relish the image, a memory of better times.When he spoke again, it was with a fond smile playing at his lips.

“In those days the Senju family and the Uchiha clan were sworn, enemies.And together, Hashirama and I built a new kingdom.”

_And now they would tear it down._ It was the truth Sasuke could not escape.All of this work, all of this legacy, and all Madara sought was to bring it to an end. 

“Why did you turn your back on it?”Sasuke asked.He had meant it to be a cool disinterested question.They were to be equals, from the same rotten family tree.But somehow, the world Madara spoke of had shriveled on the vine.

“Konoha turned its back on me,” Madara Uchiha said.“As it turns its back on everyone who dreams of more than contented mediocrity.We brought peace to a corner of the world, but we could have built an empire.We could have reshaped the whole world in our image, bringing an end to border squabbles and war.We could have ended it all.”

He looked down at his hand, still shriveled with time. 

“Hashirama was always more suited to leadership and people.But he was ill-suited for power.He had no imagination.And what he could not imagine—he came to fear.”Now Madara trained his gaze on Sasuke.“He would not forfeit his power to one with vision.One with a real chance of making the world anew.”

“You tried to take the sword,” Sasuke said, his words an astonished gasp.The Forest Flame, the ancient sword of kings—in Madara’s day it would have been new and powerful.

“No,” Madara said.“What Hashirama left behind _became_ the sword.We fought—in the old ways, to the death.The terms of the duel were clear.But I was already on the path to becoming something new, something the world had not faced yet.And Hashirama was...afraid.” 

Sasuke could picture it, the two ancient founders of Konoha squaring against each other.But what he would never confess was that when he pictured a young Madra, Sasuke saw himself.

Facing down Naruto.

“His power’s consumed him, made him one with the sword.But when I reached for it,” Madara extended his hand out before him, not looking at Sasuke.“His brother struck.”The dreamy, reminiscent expression was gone from Madara’s gaze.In its place was a fury as old as civilization.“It was I who should have been the next king.I who should have inherited Hashirama’s power.But his brother stopped me.Our battle had left me weakened—Hashirama for all his faults had always been a match for me.Even though I survived that day—I do not know that you could call me the victor.”

“Tobirama reached the sword first, and it granted him the power of the land.”

“Why did you accept that?”Sasuke asked.“Why not just _take_ it.”

Madara scowled at Sasuke, and for a moment he thought he had pushed his master too far.

“When we forged the kingdom, we linked Hashirama’s blood to the land.The price of kingship.When the sword chose Tobirama, it linked him to the land.If I had killed his brother, the remnants of Hashirama’s soul would never have accepted me.”

“But now you would kill the new king of Konoha and take the sword.”

He could not bring himself to say Naruto’s name in Madara’s presence.It felt like giving away too much of himself.

But there was no illusion in Madara Uchiha’s gaze.He looked at Sasuke not as a man with conviction, but with the heavy weight of experience.It was not the bright light of agenda that shined in his eyes, but the weary taste of betrayal.

Sasuke knew then, that on some level they were the same. 

He had only spent a few short months in Konoha, but it was long enough to see how the tides were shifting.Even if Sasuke had stayed, had put aside his vengeance, had tried to forgive the wholesale slaughter of the Uchiha family, eventually they would have turned on him.

Even Naruto would have grown to see him as a threat—a challenge to his monopoly on power.And even he would have seen Sasuke as just another Uchiha.Just another body on the way to harmony and quiet.A false peace purchased in blood.

Sasuke nodded once.He did not need to hear any more. 

Who could he trust more than Madara?Certainly not Itachi, who had blithely killed to satisfy their masters amongst the Konoha monarchy.Not Naruto, whose life was bookended in serving the regime.It was Madara who knew what it was to be confined, what it was to be backed into a corner, and forced to bear your teeth and draw blood.

Sasuke turned away from his ancestor, with new purpose.There would be no more wavering.

It was time to build a new world.

* * *

The snow had begun to fall in earnest by the time Sasuke reached the city walls of Konoha.It coated the ground in its spun-sugar glaze, softening edges, and hiding decay.In normal times, lovers might ride out into the woods to share vows of renewal, promises for the coming year.

But Sasuke knew as well as anyone that hunger and cold had come to the city—hunger and cold and mourning for the regent who had died too soon.In whose absence, a vacuum of power had grown, leaving Naruto to scramble at his role.And through it all Danzo held the reigns, leading the kingdom into ruin.The Zetsu’s and their army had cut off supply lines and burned fields.

By the time Madara rode into the city, the people would welcome him with open arms.

Sasuke rode alone to the walls of the city.This was only the first overture of war.There would be time, again, for terror and fear.Allowed free reign, the Zetsus would only incite chaos. 

It was not the time for chaos, not yet.There was still groundwork to lay for the new world.

He stopped his horse at the massive wooden gates.He did not call up to the guard to let him in; such posturing was beneath him.But the gates opened up anyway.He was the king’s champion, clothed in black and furs, coming home with the winter.

But as he entered the city, Sasuke could feel the way that the temperature had changed.The faces of the guards had become hollow.Shadows danced under their eyes as they watched him like wolves watching prey.Citizens were scarce, their business unnecessary in the winter, the markets shuttered by the snow and scarcity.This was no season for markets and harvests, it was a time for hoarding and survival. 

No-one stopped him as he approached the castle.The guards stood aside as the doors opened, with that same hungry look as the men manning the walls.Sasuke could feel their eyes tracking his every movement. Perhaps Kakashi had become strict in the leaner months, tightening rations and handing out shifts in their place.He would keep his eyes open for such changes—the movements of a few key players could shift the tides of battle in any direction.

Nothing in war was predictable.

He had sent no word of his arrival.But, like disease, news had a way of spreading.Word had gotten out through the guard and the citizens of the city. 

Doors opened for him as he moved through the castle. None approached, none spoke to him.

The king’s champion could only have one target.

In the great throne-room at the heart of the castle, fresh with new construction, Naruto sat on his gilded throne and waited.

Even across the room, Sasuke could make out the sapphire sheen of his eyes.He knew the look in that blue gaze, fierce and determined.But there were new dimensions here. 

Suspicion.Anger.Resignation.

Naruto’s expression was nothing as it had been the day Sasuke first turned his back on Konoha.Then, his eyes glinted with the wounded look of fresh betrayal.In those days, the thought of Sasuke’s departure had been unimaginable.

Now, Naruto looked upon him as though such betrayal was an old friend.

Sasuke did not flinch away from that challenge.He did not look away from the accusation that rested there—no, Naruto deserved better than that. 

He deserved to know the monster who had come home.

“You did not send word of your arrival,” Naruto said, his voice sharp and echoing on the newly cut stone of the hall.“Nor did you give warning of your departure.”

“There were personal matters to attend to,” Sasuke replied, smoothing his expression into something playful and smug.It was a challenge to remember what role to adopt, who to become.It seemed at every turn, someone demanded something new of him.Madara, the Zetsus, even the Akatsuki had demanded a different role, a multi-layered performance. 

This was to be his most challenging role yet.

It was fortunate, then, that Sasuke had become an able performer. The other squires of Konoha flanked him—knights perhaps.Sasuke cared little for the distinction, these days.Time had passed and it was likely they had moved to the next round of the Proving had been conducted.Sasuke did not care what title his former peers wore.He would never undergo the proving, never become a true knight of Konoha.He had won his place in the tournament, all those months ago.And now he had forsaken it.

Before he could begin, Sasuke had to ensure that he had his audience’s attention.He looked past Naruto, locking eyes with Shikamaru.Shikamaru met him there, a short, immediate look. Then the other young man nodded; the slightest tilt of his head.But it was enough for Sasuke to know for sure.

His plans had taken root.

“I come bringing word of a new order,” Sasuke said with a mocking bow, an imitation of the kind of etiquette that any visiting dignitary might perform.

_He loves you, you know._

Sasuke shook such thoughts away.There was no room for love in times of war. 

Naruto was silent as he stood in the audience of Sasuke’s performance.Sasuke could not read his expression—he had never been able to read Naruto.Certainly, Naruto wore his emotions on his sleeve, but Sasuke could only guess at their meaning.Now he could not help but wonder at the pain that flickered in his gaze then. 

Naruto had accused Sasuke of treason once.He had been so willing to believe Kakashi as the older man demanded Sasuke’s arrest. Although he defended Sasuke with his words, Naruto had still thought of Sasuke as a danger. 

Now Sasuke had come home to prove their old mentor right.It occurred to him then that Kakashi was missing.Their former mentor was nowhere to be seen.The only advisor at Naruto’s back was Danzo, half bandaged and glowering in fury.

“The traitor has returned,” the old man hissed.

“Yes,” Sasuke shot back.“To parlay.”He spared a look at each of the squires in kind, making eye contact with Ino, Chouji, Hinata, Shikamaru, Neji, and all the rest.It was for them that he performed, for them that he had come to the great hall of Konoha.“I come with an offer for those with no appetite for the future you have on offer.A future of weakness and feeble stumbling into death.”

“I know this of the fighters of Konoha: you are not fools.As you have slept-walked into cowardice and hunger, as you have seen your regent Tsunade die for your meekness, there are those amongst your number who see the truth.Konoha is crumbling.”

With those words, Sasuke’s gaze locked on Naruto.

Now, that impassive blue stare fully crumbled into emotion.At Sasuke’s allegations, real pain flickered there.He could not be ignorant of the role he had played in Konoha’s final days. 

But he still looked at Sasuke like he could promise something.Like there was still some connection between the two of them, private and shared.

“You could have had a place here,” Naruto said.They were words meant just for Sasuke, but because of the course of their destinies, the nature of their roles, they echoed through the Great Hall.And somehow, they still found their mark, piercing through the last living Uchiha.He had to look away for a moment, to gather himself against the onslaught.

Their roles could not be changed— the die had been cast.

When he finally mustered the power to speak, his voice was hoarse.“There was never a place for me here,” Sasuke said.“But I am not the only one with no place in your kingdom.Konoha has changed—hardened.It's become something inhospitable, incompatible with the future.”He let the accusation hang in the air as he made eye contact with each individual squire.For it was their fates on the line here.Sasuke did not care for the kingdom, for the history of Konoha that had been paid for in blood. 

But surely they would see that their futures could all be ended in the way that the Uchiha had been destroyed.It had been Madara, generations ago, who had sought power and been cast out for it.

Now it could be any of them. 

Sasuke had been so careful in picking his targets.In the months he had been Champion, he had selected them one by one, reminding them of how the kingdom saw them, of how easily they could all be replaced.Shikamaru had been his most overt recruit—he was clever enough to see the cracks in Konoha’s foundation but too intelligent to be lead by trickery through the dark.Sasuke had dangled morsels of a plan before Shikamaru, just enough to keep him interested enough not to betray him for the reward of Danzo’s favor. 

But for all his plans, Sasuke was still surprised by those who watched this power struggle—and those who were missing.He had expected Sakura to be amongst the witnesses here, to be among the first to be swayed by his logic.

But she was nowhere to be seen.

Sasuke did not like uncertainty.Nor did he care for failure.What did it mean that Sakura had disappeared?What had occurred in his absence? He had seen the starving hunger in the eyes of the guards, and now as he examined the squires, they too seemed weary.Worn thin.As though in a few short months, more damage had been done to Konoha than he could have predicted.

He would not complain if Danzo had set the stage for what would come next.But he was not so far gone that he did not wonder at Sakura’s disappearance.They had been pages together, after all.

Danzo glared at Sasuke from his position at Naruto’s right hand.“Say your piece and leave,” he snapped.“We do not harbor traitors here.”

How ironic that Danzo continued to throw that word around, for Sasuke knew the truth of his machinations.Of all the ways that he, too, sought to reshape the kingdom in his image.

“But we are, all of us, traitors,” Sasuke fired back.“Was it not you, at King Hiruzen’s side, who made sorcery illegal?With a slice of your pen, you made each of us your enemy.”All the while Sasuke kept a careful eye on his former peers.To see who would be the first to break rank.

It was Hinata who shifted first, her face crumbling with indecision.But her lavender gaze darted back towards Naruto.She would not be disloyal, for she was still guided by wrongheaded affection for a boy who would never see her feelings.Sasuke could not help the vicious smile that grew on his face.

Nor could he help the chill that grew in his gut.Naruto’s fate would be a different matter—the fate of all kings who sleepwalked into war against an enemy they could not defeat.

“You doomed the kingdom to obsolescence.You made it weak, defenseless, ripe for the taking.And now you would suffer what you have sown.”

He was shouting now, furious.Furious at the blood his family had paid to keep this decrepit patient of a kingdom alive.Furious of all who had died to save this place from its own stupid insistence on following backward laws and meaningless custom. 

And through it all, he stared directly at Naruto, who met his gaze unflinching.Even from here, Sasuke could see the way Naruto’s lips were parted, as though he might at any moment, interject. 

But he didn’t.he sat silently and waited, allowing Sasuke’s accusations to wash over him.He had not been king the day the law was signed.He had been nothing but a barefoot orphan, running through the castle halls, denied the comfort of his birthright.For all his innocence, however, his hands were not clean.He had inherited a throne, but he had done nothing to stop the tides of what was to come.He had shown no appetite for power, and with it, not stomach for responsibility. 

It had only taken a few short months for that to come to fruition, with Sasuke leading the charge.

“It is time for Konoha to pay its due.We have come to collect.” Sasuke said.It was time to end this performance before anger took him too far and he did something too rash. 

Madara’s orders had merely been to exacerbate tensions within the castle, he needed to tear it down himself when the time finally came to march on the city and usher in a new era.

And for that to happen, Sasuke needed to win alliances.

Once more Sasuke made eye contact with Shikamaru.If he fell in line, the rest of the squires would follow.Perhaps not all of them, but enough would see that they, too, could become traitors.That to stay in Konoha was to make themselves a target.

Sasuke’s spine tensed—this was the moment of truth.He would see now if the traps he had laid would spring.

Sasuke snapped his fingers and the great hall lit with flames.Gasps filled the air, a slight scream.The guards frantically backed away from the fire, no doubt to evacuate the castle once again, but Sasuke had been careful to ensure the fire blocked all exits but one.

It was a controlled burn, nothing like the reckless, wanton destruction of the Akatsuki attack.He had not cared for showmanship on that night, only efficient destruction.Enough to force the hand of all who manipulated the levers of power in Konoha.

Now he just needed to put on a show. 

“Arrest him,” Danzo ordered. 

“As you had Tsunade arrested?” Sasuke demanded, his voice rising over the crackling roar of the new fire.“As you turned on everyone who threatened you—even as you slide this kingdom into ruin?”

The guards approached anyway, wearing steely expressions meant for violence.They did not care for politics—the guard was not made up of the nobility, they had no hope of controlling the future here.

But it was not for the guards that he had spoken.

Shikamaru moved first.Standing behind Sasuke, a hand on his sword.Ino and Chouji joined him quickly, each drawing their sword.Then, finally, Neji joined them.

Silence fell on the hall.The remaining number of squires looked on in horror, and Sasuke knew then that there would be no more to join their number.

But it was enough to change the tides.It was what he had come for.

“Why?” The word was out before Naruto could stop it.It was plain from the look on his face that he had not meant to ask. 

“Because he’s right,” Shikamaru said.“Konoha has grown weak.To stay here would be to die. Would it be death by winter starvation?By a mob led by the peasantry?They complain every day of the violence on the border, of missing family members and home villages all gone.You can taste the violence in the air.Or maybe it would be another attack by the Akatsuki, while we stand defenseless against their sorcery.”

Shikamaru turned his gaze on Danzo then and did not bother to hide the disgust that played across his expression.

“Or will it be an execution at the orders of your own advisors?”

The look Danzo gave him in response offered nothing but death.

Naked betrayal played across Naruto’s face, and Sasuke could not help the sharp jab of agony at the sight.Not because he had hurt Naruto—but at the shock entwined in the young king’s expression.Naruto had come to expect nothing by betrayal from Sasuke.

But not this.

And Sasuke realized then: he had never had a place here.Naruto had never trusted him.It had been an illusion for them both, each playing roles without letting the other see the script.Sasuke of the devoted Champion and Naruto as the beloved king.

_Are you planning on betraying me?_ Naruto had asked the question so lightly all those months ago.And Sasuke had meant it when he had said no. 

Naruto had never been his target.Sasuke’s goal had been the destruction of Konoha, to fulfill Madara’s destiny and usher in a new era.Naruto had been nothing but collateral damage, the price paid for justice. 

But time had made a liar of him.

_You could have had a place here._

No, Sasuke was not the only liar here. 

He turned away, his dark cloak swirling out behind him.Shikamaru was a valuable strategist—he would serve as a good general.The others would fill the ranks nicely, make the transition easier.Neji Hyuga in particular was a coup—from one of the highest families in the land, with respect behind his name.He would grant the new regime an air of legitimacy in the eyes of Konoha’s neighbors and those that survived the siege.

But only four. A number so slight. Sasuke had hoped to convince more, had hoped to convince each of the youngest knights of Konoha that there would be no future for them here.But from the way Rock Lee and Ten-Ten looked at Neji with horror, the naked terror in Hinata’s gaze, he could see there was no convincing them.

Perhaps if Sakura had been there.Perhaps she could have convinced the others to see the sense in changing sides. 

No, Sasuke shook that thought off. There was no point in getting swept away in what-ifs and better outcomes.He could only focus on what was to be next.

Even as he could not resist a glance backward at Naruto.Could not help the ache at the sight of the blonde still staring at Sasuke, his lips still half-open as if at any moment he would come forward with the words that would fix things between them. 

* * *

The ride back to the army camp was short but lengthened by tense silence.Neji had never been talkative- he had been sidelined as a lesser member of the Hyuga family for years and it had turned him into a quiet, resentful man.But Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji who had all been pages together, who had always been known for being rowdy, had been hauled before Sir Iruka for failing to behave in a matter fitting their station.

Now they were silent.

Sasuke did not try to engage them—he had never been truly one of their number.But unease festered, as he wondered if he had miscalculated if he had not laid the seeds of their treason well enough.

Then they arrived at the war camp.

Shikamaru’s face was shuttered, but Sasuke could easily read Ino and Chouji.Their eyes scanned the horde of white Zetsu’s.He could see them take in their slick, inhuman skin and the way the forest light glinted off the subterranean sheen of their flesh.

In the months since he had left Konoha, he had forgotten how monstrous they appeared.Sasuke had grown too used to the glinting yellow of their eyes and the way they bared their teeth in unwelcome greeting.

“Find yourself a place to camp,” Sasuke said.“We meet early tomorrow, to discuss strategy.”

Ino visibly recoiled at the thought of staying here, amongst the monstrous Zetsus.“I did not think you had thrown your lot in with monsters, Sasuke,” she accused, disgust writ large across her face.Finally, he turned to glare at her.He did not need her friendship, only her sword arm, and her family name. 

“How does it feel then, to know that we are one and the same then?”He did not hide the acid from his bite. 

Couldn’t they see that alliances were made as necessary?There was no use in crying for more appealing allies, better-looking soldiers when there was a future to shape. 

But the Ino’s ice-blue gaze was still discomforted, and she looked ready to lash back until Shikamaru put his hand on her shoulder.

“We have come this far,” he said, his voice low enough to seem meant only for her ears.“There’s no turning back now.”

This must have soothed her, for the mutiny faded from her expression.She put her hand on his and nodded, once.Chouji watched this exchange with rapt interest as if he sought Shikamaru’s assurances as well.He would not be the one to break from their little gang and run for home.Shikamaru was their leader, and he would make the decision.

All Sasuke needed was to guide their leader’s hand with logic.The rest would fall in line. 

“Besides,”Sasuke said, “it’s too late to run home.Naruto may say he would welcome you back with open arms.But we all know who really pulls the strings—and Danzo would see to it your threat to Konoha was ended before you could even make it to the great hall.”

The splintered ice in all four of the Konoha defector’s gaze told him his words had struck true. 

“Rest.There is work to be done in the morning.”

Sasuke turned away then, content in the knowledge that they would not run.For the drums of war were beating, and Shikamaru would not choose a loosing side—no matter how monstrous the victors.


	26. xxii. naked before the world

xxii. naked before the world

Winter had struck while Sakura had journeyed through the underworld.They had washed up on a black-sand beach dusted with powder- white snow.Behind them, the ocean was a roaring grey expanse.Her breath appeared crystalline in the air before them and the taste of salt permeated her senses as if she was still struggling through the current of the underworld.Snow and chill could only mean one thing: months had passed while she was in the underworld.

Sakura took a shaky breath in.

Then an exhale. 

She was alive, with the future stretched out before her; unknowable and too vast to hold in her own two hands. 

But she had not come out of the underworld unchanged.The cold burned against her skin, and Sakura could summon no magic to ward it away.She wore nothing but her thin cotton shirt and breeches—nothing against the winter.She had no source of warmth but the feel of Kakashi against her body.The firm strength of him, the vitality that she had fought so hard to bring back to the world of the living.Sakura entwined her fingers through Kakashi’s, relishing in the feel of his hand on hers.They could face the future together.

Unbidden, thoughts of the bridges she had burned on her journey rose in her mind.

Thoughts of a forsaken home.

_War comes for Konoha._

Tsunade’s words raced through her. War.That fabled nightmare of history, the thing that all knights prepared for but never truly expected.And now Tsunade had asked her to ride to Konoha’s defense even as it had cast her out. 

“You’re troubled,” Kakashi said, his hands on her waist and his lips at her neck.The feel of his breath was a hot desert summer compared to the wintery chill of the black sand beach. 

“Konoha is in danger,” Sakura said.The words were flat as they left her lips.“Tsunade spoke of war on the horizon.”

Suddenly Kakashi’s face was alight with purpose.“From where?From _who_?”

“She did not tell me.I didn’t….I failed to ask when I had the chance. ” Suddenly she was furious with herself.She had not thought to ask questions, had been so determined to find her way to Kakashi that in the moment she had cared little for thoughts of war and home.

Some darker part of her still questioned—what did it matter to her?What duty did she still owe that place? 

“We must hurry then” Kakashi murmured. 

Sakura tilted her face up to look at him.His expression was the face of a man divided.“Why?” she demanded.“What is there for us? Are you so eager to return to the land of the dead?”

Kakashi paused, and when he did speak again it was slowly, as though each word had been weighed and measured.

“You feel it too,” he said.Gently, he reached up and cupped her cheek in his palm.Sakura let her face lean into the touch, privately marveling at how warm he felt against the winter cold.“You can’t abandon it.I know you well, Sakura.You are a knight of Konoha, and you would do your duty to the realm.”

“Duty,” she snapped.“My duty is to you—isn’t that what you swore?Well, let it be the same between us.Let us have no duty to that place.Let us have no duty but to each other.”

“And what of the realm?”Kakashi’s question was gentle, but she could feel that he was leading to a point. 

“What is the realm to me?” Sakura fired back.Tears rose in her eyes, hot with fury.She had journeyed to the underworld for him, had thrown everything aside to bring him back, and still, his loyalties were divided.“What is the realm when it has cast me out when it has seen your blood on my hands?What is the realm with Danzo at its head, pulling Naruto along like some foolish puppet?”

She knew she sounded young and frightened and stubborn.But Sakura was past pretending for Kakashi.After all of the sacrifice, after sliding her blade through his ribs, after seeing the light fade from his eyes, there could be no pretension between them.But for all her honesty, she could feel her words crumbing as they left her lips.Somewhere in her heart, she knew they were not true—not wholly.

Kakashi’s expression was soft.He wore no mask—somehow it had not come with him through the underworld.Sakura could see every angle of his jaw and the soft way his lips parted into a regretful smile.

“What is Tsunade’s memory to you?What is Ino and Shikamaru and Hinata?What is Naruto?”

Each name hit Sakura like a slap, despite the gentle way Kakashi spoke.But he was not done.

“The realm isn’t the land, Sakura—you know that as well as I.It is home, it is family.It is the members of the Guard.That is what we swear fealty to—not territory and stone walls.Not Danzo’s ideals. It's the people we care for back home.”

“It is your decision,” Kakashi said, his voice so gentle it broke her heart.“I will not ride without you, and I will not go where you would not follow.Because my duty _is_ to you—always.”

Then, instead of continuing his speech, he kissed her.It was gentle, even as his teeth worried at her lower lip.It was not a kiss made of sensuality and passion but shared understanding.It was a promise. 

But Sakura knew she could not change him, just as he could not change her.

And his loyalties were not the only ones divided.Because he was right, damn him.It was not only her fight with Sasori.It was rebuilding the castle brick by brick.It was mourning Tsunade.It was Ino and the rest of the squires, sneaking beer in the training fields past curfew.It was gathering around a campfire with the members of the Guard.

It was Kakashi. 

And she could not abandon it—not to Danzo and not to war. 

They could not rest yet.For all that she had done, it was still not enough.For whatever reason, Tsunade in the underworld had thought that it was important that _she_ be the one to take up arms and join the fray.Although she had no magic, no family name behind her, no power to call her own, Tsunade still saw something in her.

Just as she had seen something in Sakura four years ago when she had first chosen her as a student.

When Kakashi pulled away from their kiss, his eyes were sad.As if he prepared for her denial.She could see in the grey storm of his eyes—he truly would follow where ever she decided. 

“We will need horses,” she said.“You’re right.We can’t abandon Konoha.”


	27. V. Fifth Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for the comments on my last chapter!!! I am so glad you guys were also excited to see ~ the lovers reunited~!! And now we are Down To Business Once More!!! (also I'm going to stop EVER predicting how long things will be. Me a few weeks ago: "oh chapters should be shorter now!". Also Me: "Time To Write The Second Longest Chapter Ever"). 
> 
> I hope you enjoy Sai!

V. Fifth Interlude

Hope was a dangerous thing in war.It burned as easily as fuel and disappeared as quickly. And the lack of it was just as deadly on a winter’s night.

In a forgotten cavern in the mountains outside the city, Sai realized that even he was not immune to its temptations.And as Sir Jiraiya spoke, he felt that spark flicker and die. 

“Konoha has chosen its fate.”Sir Jiraiya’s voice was firm with denial when he spoke. “It is not my duty to go back and rescue it.”

Duty was something of a foreign concept to Sai.It had not been drilled into him the way it was fed to the true knights of Konoha.Duty, obligation—all these things came with the nobility.Such things were the providence of the nobility, who had wealth and power of their own.Without purpose, they would never offer those resources to a king.It would be far more prudent to tear the land apart for a shred of independence. 

People like Sai needed no such purpose.He had no family name, no inherited wealth to guide his hand.For people like Sai, there were merely orders and obedience and survival. 

And yet here he stood, facing down Jiraiya and bargaining for Konoha. 

“War comes, and we need every sword hand we can muster,” Sai offered.“We need experienced leaders most of all.”

Yes, war had come to Konoha.And with it had come change.Change in the night watch as it increased shifts to keep a steady eye on the monsters that prowled the edges of the city wall.Change in their rations as they dwindled to nothing.

And change in Sai himself, as he disregarded Danzo and ventured out to bargain for a kingdom’s fate. 

“Your master Danzo has never trusted me,” Sir Jiraiya fired back. “What changed his mind?Why does he now suddenly need the aid of one old hermit?”

Sir Jiraiya did not bother to conceal his surprise.Why should he?To him, Sai was nothing more than Danzo’s lackey, a smiling extension of the private army that Danzo had amassed to keep a hand on his own power.Sir Jiraiya did not need to know that Sai had been hand-picked as a child to be the perfect aide.Nor did Jiraiya need to know the real orders Danzo had given him: assisting in the arrest of Sakura Haruno, disposing of the body of Kakashi Hatake, concealing the truth from King Naruto, spying on the people of the city as they hungered through the winter.And whispered.

But perhaps Jiraiya did need to know that Sai had…wavered.That not all of Konoha turned to the tune of Danzo’s demands.

“He didn’t send me here,” Sai said.

“Then why,” Sir Jiraiya asked.“What purpose could you have here?”

“Konoha starves.Sasuke and his army have blocked supply lines, and at any moment they will begin their assault on the walls.The people are afraid, and our army has been depleted.The knights on the border are trapped on the other side, an army standing between them and home.And every day, the monsters watch the city, waiting for their moment.”

He had spent long nights observing the pale creatures as they wove through the forest trees. Their yellow eyes reflected the firelight from Konoha’s watchtowers, making them shine with malice.He had taken to walking the ramparts in the dead of night, carrying a torch and counting the pairs of shining yellow orbs, like counting carrion crows waiting to strike.

At first, Konoha had thought the white monsters nothing more than an odd military from the north; normal human men altered by some magical aberration.They had even tried to send a messenger to parlay with the beasts, without the presence of Sasuke Uchiha.

Danzo and Sai had stood on the city ramparts and watched as the monsters tore the messenger apart, devouring him with teeth sharpened to a fine shark’s point.

“And you would have me die there with the rest?”Jiraiya took a sip of his wine.He had amassed quite the collection of the stuff.In the flicker of Sir Jiraiya’s campfire, Sai could see the outline of the cave wall and that it was lined with the clay vessels.It would easily last him through the winter and beyond.Without intervention, Sir Jiraiya could easily ride the coming violence. The cave itself was scrupulously hidden, with large branches covering the entrance to hide it from view. 

There were no massive stockpiles of food, but that was not surprising. Jiraiya had been a hermit for years before training Naruto, and there was no doubt he was a master of foraging the wilderness for sustenance.But everything changed in a war, and surely even Sir Jiraiya would struggle as the monsters destroyed the countryside. 

“I would ask you to fight,” Sai said.“Sir Jiraiya the Gallant—isn’t that what they once called you?And yet here you hide, cowering, as the call to arms is sounded.But if this is how your legacy will end, so be it.”

It was the longest speech Sai had ever made.He was not meant for public speaking and leadership; he was a knife wielded in the dark against the enemies of the realm.

But Sai had been forced to learn that a knife alone could not dispatch all of Konoha’s enemies.And more and more he had been forced to question his role.

But there was no more he could say to Jiraiya. 

Sai turned away. Sai had been twice a fool to come here: first for seeking to rescue the realm and again for believing that Sir Jiraiya could offer anything to the realm.It was clear there was no changing a coward—it was far more likely that Sir Jiraiya would talk _him_ around to abandoning the realm and all his oaths.

Sir Jiraiya’s legacy was long and storied—mentor to kings, hero of a generation, member of the three legendary knights who had defined Konoha’s golden era in the years before Minato’s death and Danzo’s rule. 

Now one of those knights was a traitor, whose legacy was defined by the atrocities they had committed in the shadows of the castle’s halls. 

The other had served as regent, devoting herself to a life as a tired bureaucrat, before she too had been named a traitor for daring to summon the power that had once defined her.

Why should Sai have expected any better of Sir Jiraiya? Why wouldn’t he be anything but a coward, huddling in the shadows as war befell the realm?His fellows had fallen into corruption or tragedy, why should Sir Jiraiya be any different?

“You once swore an oath to defend Konoha—unless your knighthood is as much a sham as your legend,” Sai said with bitterness.It was fortunate that he did not care for stories of duty and legendary feats. 

But still, he found himself disappointed.Some part of him had hoped that somewhere there was a shred of truth to the story that Konoha told itself.That all the time the nobility had spent prattling on about duty and sacrifice and heroism meant something.

Apparently, Sai had the capacity to be fooled.

He turned his back on one more petty disappointment.There was no more time to waste arguing with specters of the past.

But he did grant himself one final glance at Sir Jiraiya.The flicker of the firelight highlighted the hollows of the older man’s face.He did not look like a hero from the pages of history books—he looked like nothing but a tired old man.

But something in his gaze spoke of something more.There was still strength and fortitude in there—the spark of tales left unfinished.

“You are close enough to the battleground,” Sai said over his shoulder, by way of final goodbye.“I imagine it will be hard to ignore the sounds of your countrymen being slaughtered.Feel free to join the fray if it suits your mood,”

And then he let himself out of the hidden cavern and into the frozen tundra of what had once been forest.

* * *

It was a blessing that the townspeople did not know of the cracks in the walls, of the way that the unwelcome could slip in through the dead of night.He had discovered the hidden entrance on one of his long night patrols when he wandered the borders of the town and sought to divine some purpose for this season of violence.

It was a small enough gap that one person at a time could slip through the walls.He had spent long hours wondering if he should have the hole barricaded and sealed.But it was small enough that even Sai, slight though he was, had to stoop to pass through it.The broad shouldered monsters of Sasuke Uchiha’s army would be slow to make it through such a small crack.And if they broke through the front gates, such an escape might be just enough to allow a few of Konoha’s number to escape the ensuing carnage.

Once he never would have cared.His thoughts would have been focused on his own survival and nothing else.But that had been when he was young and in training, when the only goal before him had been to pass to the next level of his instruction and to become Danzo’s right hand.

For all the good it had got him.

A crack in the forest broke through his thoughts.Every nerve in Sai’s body fired at once, as he lifted his head and scanned the horizon for threats.It could have been a piece of wood, unable to hold the weight of the snow. 

Or, just as likely, it could be the sound of a foot on a piece of branch.That would mean a witness.

Anyone who spied him here would know of this route's existence.Even just one of the monsters could easily pass the information onto the rest of its companions.Although the entrance was small, with enough forewarning they could eventually breach the walls. On a normal year, Sai would assume it was a lone animal wandering the twilight for food.But the monsters had feasted upon all the meat they could find, throwing hunting cycles into disarray for years to come.The smell of cooking meat had filled the air for too many weeks, as the people of Konoha lived on rations.

Sword in hand, Sai moved back into the forest.He would not surrender this hiding place so easily—not when it was the only way for citizens to escape if the walls were breached. 

He took two steps forward, careful to conceal his footsteps in case he summoned more of the monsters. 

A second branch snapped, confirming his suspicions.It was not some innocent noise in the distance—someone was out there.

If Sai's training had not stamped out any of his body's fear reactions, dulling the senses that made a body hum with terror, his heart would have beaten in his chest like a drum.Instead, he stood completely still, his sword arm ready to attack at a moment’s notice.

But then his eye caught a flicker of movement. Instantly, his vision narrowed onto two figures emerging from the twilight shadows of the forest.

And everything changed yet again.

* * *

Sai had never liked the capitol city of Konoha.It was crowded and noisy and filled with people making chaotic, illogical decisions that took them off the clockwork track of their lives.But if he had not liked it in the summer, as the leaves turned and a cold wind blew in from the north, he had come to truly loathe it. 

He loathed the look of fear that set in as people realized that shortages had crept up around them and the late-summer harvest tripled in price.He loathed the sound of coughing as flu ripped through the town, passed from market goer to market goer. 

And he loathed the sight of the white monsters from the north waiting in the tree-line, watching, waiting for their moment to break through the city walls and tear into the flesh of the townspeople.Terror had grown in the air of Konoha, filling Sai’s lungs with the fetid stench of hysteria and paranoia.At the first whispers of war, the people had been ready to turn on the monarchy, had been ready to throw King Naruto to the monstrous white beasts, and open the gates to the Uchiha traitor. 

But then the word had spread of the monster’s hunger for flesh, and the mood had turned for the hysteric. It had been Danzo who had guided King Naruto’s hand, putting into place curfews and lockdowns and restricting gatherings to stop the fermentation of treason.

Now the dark uniformed figures of Danzo’s private army, the group of men Sai was apart of and not, wandered the streets hourly.They were unyielding in their expectations, enforcing Danzo’s curfews with immediate punishment.Men still stood in the stocks where they had been locked away for violation of the decree. 

Sai knew they were whispered about amongst the townspeople.He had taken to dressing in civilian clothes and wandering the markets in the day time.Barkeeps were eager to slide a smiling young man a tankard of ale and their wives willing to spill their troubles to a young man who seemed like nothing more than a listening ear. 

The suppression had worked, but it would not work for long.The people would not last through the winter, with hungry bellies and fear in their hearts.They resented the men in the massive stone castle who held the country’s fate in their hands.They feared Danzo’s private army, and they missed the handsome silver-haired Knight-Captain of the guard, who had always had time for a beer and a quick chat.They did not like Danzo, who they claimed had dark secrets and joked that he lurked in the shadows listening to their every word. 

They would not tolerate his leadership for long. Sai was not the only one who realized it.Sai knew Danzo well, and he could see the now-familiar look of desperation growing in the old man’s eyes.Danzo, the architect of Sai’s life, the matter of his fate, the man who had put a knife in Sai’s hands and told him to drive it down into his brother’s throat, was afraid.

Sai did not know what to make of that.

But somehow, when the lines in the sand were drawn, Sai knew that he would not be on the same side as Danzo.Somehow, in between the end of summer and the horror of winter, Konoha had become his.Danzo had become a distant figure in his life, forbidding and remote, and right now: an obstacle. 

He pondered this change as he slipped into the castle.A reluctant thrill coursed through him as he stopped at various points, delivering messages where they were needed and nudging plans into their final positions.

Danzo would expect him to immediately report, like a well-trained dog coming to heel at his master’s feet.But Sai was no dog to obey every word of command, and it was well into the night by the time he was climbing the final stair to Danzo’s office.

The old man liked reports and data and information, as much as he could wrap his hands around.But most of all, Sai got the sense that he was scrambling for some plan, for the final piece of the puzzle that would solve the trap he had set for himself. 

And as the news had grown darker and darker, so did Danzo’s moods.It was in just such one of these moods when Sai found him in his office, pacing like a mountain cat furiously testing the edges of its confinement.

“You’re late,” Danzo snapped as Sai appeared.“You should have been here hours ago to report.” He did not look up at Sai as he entered—that would be too much regard for too insignificant a servant.

A lesser man would have flinched at the tone in his voice.

“I had inspections to complete.A city under siege is rife with boltholes of corruption.”

That seemed to satisfy Danzo.He looked up at Sai finally, and it was clear in his face that the ravages of the siege had not left even the immortal-seeming Danzo untouched. 

The crags under his lone visible eye had deepened as if the last month had aged him by a decade.Even the bandages he always covered himself in seemed yellowed with time, as if they had not been changed in days. 

A manic light that still gleamed in his expression.

“She’s haunting me,” Danzo said, his voice raspy.“That witch put a curse on the land when she perished, I know it.” 

Tsunade, the late regent.Sai fought against the heavy sigh of frustration that grew within him.Somehow, even in death, Tsunade occupied the old man’s thoughts. 

_She’s dead_ , he wanted to snap. _You have no enemies here but yourself._

 _“_ Her student lurks somewhere in town, I know it,” Danzo continued on his mad tirade.“The murderess is waiting for her chance to strike again.” 

It was a common thread in Danzo’s paranoia.He had ordered Sai months ago to find her, convinced she was waiting somewhere to lead a coup of her own.Sai had spent weeks on the chase, turning up nothing. But he had been unable to change Danzo’s mind.

It was time to direct the conversation to less dangerous topics.

“There is word that the monsters plan to attack on the solstice,” he said instead.It was a rumor spreading throughout the town. There was little to give it substance, but perhaps it could direct Danzo’s mind to something more tangible to fear.

“And how did you get that information?”Danzo’s voice was a sudden accusing roar.“Did you slip behind enemy lines and spy?Or are you working for them now, trading information on my actions for food?Just like the rest of the traitors in this city.” 

Sai tested his options.He could leave and wait for Danzo’s paranoia to pass, but Danzo might decide that it was an omission of guilt and add Sai to his ever-growing list of enemies.Of he could stay here, endure the litany of verbal abuse, and wait to make his point. 

Neither choice appealed. 

_When had he become someone who cared about such things?_ Sai had always been pragmatic.No—that was not it. To say that he was pragmatic was to imply that there were other traits he could have possessed instead.But there had been no room for anything but ruthless pragmatism in Danzo’s training grounds.It was an arena where he had excelled, where he had always known what to do, who to kill, what threat to eliminate.

All for the good of Konoha. 

It had been drilled into the students under Danzo’s instruction from morning to night.Their mission was to serve Konoha from the shadows, to eliminate all threats, whoever they might be.

 _Whoever_ they might be.

Sai looked at the furious, manic gleam in Danzo’s eye, and he realized that Danzo had miscalculated.He had selected Sai from nothing, had taken him from a background of poverty and isolation.And he had turned him into a weapon for the good of Konoha.His training had been too successful.

Now, when Sai looked at Danzo, all he could see was a threat.

“The city is starving,” Sai said, quietly.

“What did you say,” Danzo asked.His voice was even, a low whisper.But the way he looked at Sai was like a viper. 

Ready to strike.

“The city is starving,” Sai repeated.“In _days_ the walls will be breached by the monsters.And you accuse me of treason.”

Danzo was an old man, and he could not defeat Sai with weapons.Nor could he have him arrested and eliminated, as he had done to so many others.For Sai knew his secrets.

He knew the source of Danzo’s strength.

“I do not accuse,” Danzo fired back.“I find what other people miss, and I use it to safeguard the realm.It was how I turned King Hiruzen’s hand to sign the declaration against sorcery.It was how I stamped out those who would secret power away for themselves.”

Allowing Danzo to collect it for himself in the shadows, tightening the stranglehold of his grasp of control.

Sai did not have time for such a history lesson. He brushed the words aside, remembering a time when he might have cared.When as a boy, praise from Danzo had been the line between life and death.When Danzo had been the closest approximation to a parent he had known.

“Your presence is required by King Naruto,” Sai said instead, disinterested in exploring that line of thought further.Even more so, he had no desire to continue this conversation, allowing Danzo to rail against him until he made the ill-advised move to take drastic action.

“The boy needs to learn his place,” the old man grumbled, but without much bite to it.Despite the ways that the currents of power had shifted, Naruto was still the king.Critically, he enjoyed popularity amongst the remaining knights within the castle and among the members of the city guard.Knights like Sir Guy and Sir Asuma, who had been cut off when the monstrous army had blocked supply lines, sent frequent updates directly to the king via messenger birds.Sai could only assume that they would not accept Danzo’s rule.

Despite the order, Danzo did not stop his work until he finished scribbling a note.One of his trained messenger birds sat on the window-sil, ready to accept a message. Danzo did not spare Sai a glance as he tied his last note to the leg of the bird and sent it on its way. A piece of unfinished business off on the winds.

If Danzo had looked over at Sai, he would have seen a young man bristling with impatience. 

“He waits for you in the great hall,” Sai said.As he spoke, he smoothed his face into the placid smile that others claimed was inscrutable.Danzo himself did not seem to care what expression Sai wore—he cared only for the effectiveness of his servants.

“Then let us not offend our boy-king,” Danzo snapped.

* * *

Solemnity hung heavy in the air of the great hall.The braziers that were lit for light and warmth seemed to give off neither.Instead, they only deepened the shadows of the room’s corners, and cold air still ran supreme through the space.Perhaps they were simply powerless against the stony expression on the king’s face, which was lit with a cold fury.Behind him stood the remaining knights of his generation, the small pack of youths who had remained by his side after the return of the traitor Sasuke Uchiha. 

King Naruto’s face was not one meant for fury and rage, but in the weeks following the encounter with Sasuke Uchiha, it had become his base demeanor.He was not prone to lashing out, but his frustration was clear to anyone who looked in his direction.

Now, King Naruto’s gaze seemed to crackle with fury.When he looked at Danzo it was with a glare that could freeze water.

Sai could only guess at the things Danzo realized at that moment.That he had been discovered.That he was no longer the trusted advisor and had become something else.

An enemy.

It was then that Sai noticed that he had put on the crown that went with his station.While King Naruto always wore the sword that granted him his authority, he rarely donned the rest of the symbols of his station.Today, a thin circlet of gold rested on his brow, glinting with torchlight. 

And when he spoke it was with a booming thunderclap of authority. 

“How good of you to finally join us,” King Naruto said.The sarcasm that dripped heavy from his voice was uncharacteristic and damning.But hunger had mad strangers of them all.

“Your Majesty,” Danzo said, with a slight bow.The bow was shallow; the briefest of dips at the waist, before Danzo was up again and approaching King Naruto at this throne.It was nothing close to the reverence demanded of Danzo’s station.Even as King Naruto’s closest advisor, he was expected to behave as though he respected the crown’s authority. 

While the King did not seem affected by Danzo’s breach of manners, others noticed the disrespect.Hinata stood directly behind Naruto, who was known for her shy demeanor and an expression that did not show anything but demure bashfulness.Yet now her mouth twitched, as though suppressing a scowl, and her lavender eyes narrowed in disdain. 

Danzo had been so occupied with maintaining his grip on King Naruto, he had failed to pay attention to other power-players in the city.Like Hinata, heir to the Hyuga family, or Kiba, whose family cared for the royal wolfhounds.Or any of the remaining knights, each who belonged to families with fortunes and alliances of their own.

Or Sai himself.

“What can I do for you today, my lord?” Danzo said, the impatience in his tone obvious. Another breach of etiquette—he should have let the king speak first, to set the tone of the meeting.

King Naruto’s mouth curved into a regretful smile.“There is very little you can do for me today,” he said.“I’ve summoned you to discuss what you’ve _done._ ”

The air in the great hall seemed to still.It was a confusing twist of his stomach that Sai realized that this was _it._ That Danzo would not be able to talk himself out of King Naruto’s fury.

And that he, Sai, had been instrumental in its occurrence.

“I have done nothing but serve you well, Your Majesty,” Danzo said, with another, more sweeping bow.It was telling that he was already on the defensive.“If you have concerns-“

“Enough,” the king raised his hand as a signal for silence. 

But it was here that King Naruto faltered. His character was one that wanted to believe the best of each of his advisors.There was no steel in his spine for this kind of public display.Sai could see the hesitation in his gaze, as his words stopped. 

Sai had learned three things about Konoha in his time here.The first was that it was a cold place.In a normal time, its people were prosperous, fed by the surrounding forest, and comfortable. But like all forests, shadows danced across the horizon, and too many secrets hid within the tree trunks.

Second: the King had no stomach for this kind of world.King Naruto was soft-hearted and saw the best in others.He wanted to talk rather than fight (although he loved the training field for the exertion and spectacle of it all).There was no room in his heart for schemes and executions. 

Third: there were always other players hiding in the shadows.Old enemies could emerge from the shadows, ready to strike with a moment's notice.And they did not suffer from the same reticence that plagued their king. 

As Danzo was about to learn.

“The laws of Konoha are resolute,” King Naruto said.“Nothing is more important than the bond between the countrymen of Konoha.The Will of Fire binds us together.”His fingers brushed the hilt of the sword at his side; the Forest Flame.Arbiter of kings.The source of this Will of Fire itself.

“Those who turn on their own are traitors to the realm. To the land itself.”

It was not King Naruto’s voice that echoed across the Hall.It was high and feminine, and aching with bitterness.

Sakura Haruno emerged from an entrance to the king’s left.Her hair had grown long in the months since her disappearance.It hung past her shoulders, pink and gleaming.She was draped in a deep red gown, the color of aged blood.Now she looked less like a knight and more like the idea of sorceresses that Danzo so feared.The gown accentuated her figure and trailed behind her like a river of carnage.But she would not let them forget that she was a full-blooded warrior as well.A well-used sword hung from her side, held there by a gold chain wrapped around her hips.

Sakura Haruno had returned to remind everyone that she was no mere squire, no cowering girl hiding behind more powerful mentors and allies.Everything about her demeanor spoke of power in her own right, as heir to Tsunade’s legacy and bearer of her secrets, as a knight of the realm and a powerful sword-arm to be feared.

As a vengeful specter of Danzo’s crimes. 

Sai did not need to see Danzo’s face to know that his features were lined with fury.He had thought Sakura vanquished when he had ordered her locked away in the dungeons.When she had disappeared, his rage had been terrible.It had been directed at the guard, who had once been controlled by Kakashi Hatake, at the king for allowing such escape from his own dungeons. 

He had never thought to investigate Sai’s own loyalty.Never thought to question why Sai had seen to it that Sakura had been locked away in the dungeons that had once failed to hold her former mentor. 

It was as Sai looked at Sakura that he felt that same tug that had drawn him to spare her all those months ago at the tournament.To make it possible for her to escape from the executioner’s writ.He had seen the embers of it at the tournament when she had been but a squire.And he had seen those embers embanked as he had led her to a prison cell she could easily escape.

Now, Sakura Haruno blazed with confidence and power.No one had expected it of her.She was a merchant’s daughter and only a passing talent with the sword.To hear the other young knights tell it, she had been weak and terrified as a page.Constantly crying in the shadows of the future King Naruto and the traitor Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura had once been no one.

But she had climbed to the top, seizing it with her own two hands. 

“Traitors must face judgment, isn’t that what you’ve always sought?” 

Kakashi Hatake appeared to King Naruto’s right. 

He had been dead once.Sai had seen his body, face devoid of color, blood seeping out of his chest.But here he stood, in dark furs that set off the natural pallor of his skin.He looked forbidding and remote, an eye patch still covering his Sharingan, mask still covering his face. 

But then he looked at Sakura and there was a heat in his gaze that could ignite a kingdom. 

This was where Danzo faltered.For all the miracles he had worked, for all the dark bargains he had struck, Danzo had never once thought the dead might return.It was an aberration, and twist in the laws of the world. But somehow, Sai knew that Sakura Haruno, forgettable merchant's daughter, was behind it.

The old man was not struck silent for long.He stepped forward, his finger pointed in an accusation at Kakashi.

“He is the traitor,” Danzo snarled, an accusatory finger pointed at Kakashi.“For months he answered only to Tsunade, who sought to manipulate you.And now he has found a new mistress to beg for scraps from.” 

“It seems to me that you’re projecting,” Kakashi called.Amusement flickered in his lone grey eye.“If anyone has sought to manipulate the king, it’s you.”

The transformation between now and when Sai had found them in the forest was striking.They no longer looked like they had seen death itself like they had crawled from the Underworld on hand and knee.

Now Sakura and Kakashi looked like they had _become_ death.

“How fascinating to watch you squirm,” Sakura purred, stepping forward. “I had thought you would be stronger than this.Tsunade warned me that you were a master strategian, but it seems you have begun to slip.You got lazy.”

She paced Danzo like a beast of prey, her slippered feet making no sound on the flagstones of the hall.“Will you tell your king the truth?Or shall I?”

“I don’t know what poison you have dripped into the king’s ears, but it will not work, witch.”Danzo’s voice was a hiss. “You have no influence here.”

It was clearly untrue.Everyone in the hall watch Sakura’s performance, and Sai could not sense a trace of skepticism in their gaze. 

“You would let a woman face me?” Danzo called out to the hall, locking gaze with Kakashi.“Are you not a man enough to fight your own battles?”

“Why would I deny her the sport,” Kakashi called back. 

The other knights in the Hall laughed.They _laughed_ as though this were a midsummer’s tournament, as though none of them had gone hungry at all.As though Danzo were nothing but a joke.

But then Kakashi’s voice took on a flinty tone, and all the humor was sucked out of the room.“Tell them of your chamber of horrors, Danzo,” Kakashi called, still standing firm at the King’s right hand.“Tell them of the way you’ve stolen bits and pieces of those more powerful than you to create an abomination.Tell them of the way you’ve perverted the laws of the land to suit your own ends.Tell them of how you’ve scavenged bits of pieces of the Uchiha clan to fuel your own ambition.”

Every accusation settled in the hall with more force, bringing an end to the laughter.Although the King did not react, the other knights did.Each claim made Hinata’s eyes go wide in shock, and the normally sunny Kiba’s face was heavy with fury. 

“You lie,” Danzo hissed.There was no evidence, but there didn’t need to be.Sai could feel the dark energy gathering towards Danzo, as he summoned strength and power to lash out.He had never thought Danzo so foolish, but he could feel that whatever was coming would be devastating.It would be a killing blow if it struck.

Sakura lashed out like a snake.

Her hand ripped the first bandage from Danzo’s arm, to reveal the secret to his power.Where Sai had warned her it would lie. 

A gasp rang out through the Hall.The bandages had covered an intricate web of scars, carved to mimic the sigils that lined the chamber of Danzo’s secret power.It tied him to the magic there, where he had scrawled the same markings in blood and ash.Where he had implanted Sharingan’s plucked from the dead into mortar and bricks.

Sai had not been taught to harness the magic that made them all traitors, but he had been trained to sense it.As a child, he had been warned of witches, of those who burned with power too forbidden to name, and their abilities to enchant and ensnare.He had been trained to feel it in the air—all to hunt it down and stamp it out.

Now those instincts screamed that Danzo was still a threat.Sakura’s attack had been enough to distract him and slow down Danzo’s efforts, but not stop them.Dark energy still flowed through the room.Perhaps others did not feel it, but it was clear from King Naruto’s intense stare that he could feel it.He looked ready to rise from his chair, his hand still on the Forest Flame’s hilt.

But Sakura did not back away. 

With a clench to his gut, Sai realized that Sakura did not feel the same malevolent power that Sai could.

“You banned magic, but you look at you!”Her voice was a scream of rage, echoing from the walls.It seemed to burn with power, although Sai could not feel Sakura summon the magic that had made her a traitor.“You are an abomination! Did it thrill you to order Tsunade’s death as you committed the same crimes you condemned her for?Did you relish being the _true_ traitor?” 

Sakura did not give Danzo time to answer— there was no answer that would satisfy her.She was a creature made of rage and vengeance.Wind had whipped up around the hall, tugging at the hem of Sai’s tunic, swirling around the room in a vortex.Sakura and Danzo stood at the center of the maelstrom, oblivious to all but the confrontation between them.

But Sakura was not finished.She reached out and grabbed the final cover of Danzo’s bandages—the yellowed, aged bandages that covered his face.

The truth of Danzo’s crimes was now laid bare to all of Konoha.The bandages did not cover more of the sigils—no, that would have been insufficient to fuel the strength and longevity that Danzo craved.Beneath the cover of the bandages were three Sharingan, grafted into the aged flesh of his skin.They were arranged in a line, the middle Sharingan where a normal eye would rest— a dark perversion of the Sharingan Kakashi had received from Obito Uchiha. 

Sai could not see them up close, but he could feel them; the whirling vortex’s summoning Danzo’s power.As he gathered power to release in a massive explosion.Sai realized it then: it was not the king Danzo meant to strike.

It was Sakura.

Sai made eye contact with Kakashi.His own Sharingan was visible, the eye patch ripped off his face.His eyes were wide in anguish, and it was clear that he too knew that Sakura was in the path of danger.He moved as if to throw himself between the blast and his lover.

But they would all be too late.Sakura was on her own.

The power that Danzo had gathered exploded.Sai could see Danzo reach up to grab Sakura’s throat, the expression on her face as she realized that she was defenseless.

Then white light blinded his vision.

It was as if every sound in the room had been sucked out.Silence too loud to bear, disorienting and agonizing wracked Sai’s ears.

Slowly his vision returned, as he blinked the bright light away.

The scene when his vision returned was…unexpected.

Sakura still stood firm.Surprise was etched across her face, and there was a dusting of ash on her nose as if the blast had singed the air around her, but it had left her untouched.Sai could sense a third power there—belonging not to Sakura but to the late regent.The fingerprint of Tsunade’s power hung in the air as if she had somehow stopped the blast in its tracks.But before Sai could puzzle this mystery further, it disappeared completely. 

Danzo released his grip on Sakura’s throat, pulling away and stumbling backward.In the space of the blast, he had aged further, his cheeks gaunt and his skin stretched thin across his face.All vitality had disappeared from his body.The power he had spent for his attack had cost him more than even the Sharingan could offer. 

And it had earned him nothing.

“Now they’ll see,” he stammered, audible in the dead silent Great Hall.“That should have killed you—but for your witchcraft.Now they’ll see that you’re a traitor.”

Even now, at the end, Danzo couldn’t reconcile the truth: that he was no different from Sakura or Tsunade or Sasuke or the rest.Somehow he lied to the world so well that even in his last moments he could not see the truth.That he was a hypocrite and a charlatan, passing out damnation at every turn.

Sai had always thought of him as a master of schemes, pulling strings and controlling the kingdom from the shadows.He had been an imposing figure in Sai’s childhood, a terrifying figure deciding life and death on an unknowable rubric. 

Now Sai saw that he was as weak, as foolish, as stupid as any other person. 

But all the more dangerous for having been backed into a corner.His eyes blazed with madness and he looked at Sakura with pointed hatred.

But before he could open his mouth to speak, Sakura was in action.Her sword was in her hand, an iron contradiction compared to the feminine cut of her burgundy gown.

“This is for Tsunade,” she said.

And then the blade came down, removing Danzo’s head from his shoulders. 

By the ancient laws of Konoha, it was not murder.By that measure was fair justice, well-earned.But that was not the only standard, and Danzo was not without his allies.

Sai saw the dark uniforms first, followed by the steely expressions.Danzo’s private army had arrived.Cursing his foolishness he realized that this had been Danzo’s final business.He must have sensed something afoot and summoned aid. 

They had come too late to save their master, but not to mete out their own kind of justice.Danzo had chosen them well: for unwavering loyalty and the ability to take action at a moment’s notice.

The scent of blood was in the air. 

The private army would move to eliminate their rivals, doing as Danzo trained them to uproot any pockets of disloyalty.Like Sai, they had sworn oaths to eliminate all of Konoha’s enemies.But unlike Sai, they had never seen that Danzo himself was one of those same enemies.

Sai could guess at the unfolding carnage easily. Sakura was exhausted from her battle with Danzo, but she readied her own blade in response.It was clear that she had struck the killing blow against Danzo, from the blade in her hand to the blood splattered across her cheek.She was not defenseless—she could fight one of them off but it would be close.If she fought one and emerged the victor, the next would strike her down with ease.Kakashi would be drawn into the fight to defend her, and the violence would fan out amongst the entire hall. 

King Naruto, the loyal friend, would never forgive such carnage.He would order their arrest, would ask the other young knights to stand against them, and more would die.It would be for nothing—Danzo’s men would emerge the victor. 

How would Naruto fall?Sai could not be sure.Without Danzo to order his capture, perhaps he would be struck down in the fighting. Or perhaps he would be taken as a hostage and executed before the very citizens he had once inspired.Either way, their control over the city would be absolute.But it would irreparably harm Konoha’s fighting force, opening the door for Sasuke and his monsters to take the city. 

The captain of Danzo’s army, a stern-faced man named Yamato, approached.His blade was naked in his hand, reflecting daggers of light off its well-polished steel surface. The rest of the dark uniformed members of Danzo’s private army had already drawn their weapons, salivating at the coming violence. Once Sai had sworn an oath to defend the realm from its enemies from the shadows, and he had turned on the very man who had designed that oath. 

War changes people.Since coming to Konoha, Sai had seen siege, and hunger, and murder.

But that oath stood resolute.

Sai stepped before Sakura, blocking Yamato’s path.His blade arced up, blocking Yamato’s strike just in time.The force of the blow reverberated through his shoulder, and the sound of the clash bounced off the stone walls of the hall.

“Stop this,” he said with more authority than he felt.“We swore the same oath.This is not the way.”

Yamato looked Sai over, as if puzzled that one of their own had turned against them.Sai had always been a puzzle. He was the newest arrival to the city but closest to Danzo’s confidence.He had been a golden boy before he had failed to main Sakura at the tournament all those months ago.But that had still not diminished his standing amongst their number.He had been given a squadron to command, and Yamato had been forced to answer to Sai directly when he sought to speak to Danzo.

Now, Yamato looked at Sai with naked confusion in his gaze.But he did not strike again. 

“You swore an oath to the realm,” Sai continued when he was not interrupted.“Not to that man.”He relaxed his guard, pointing the tip of the blade at Danzo’s headless corpse.If Yamato chose to strike, he would have an easy opening. 

But Yamato did not raise his blade.He waited, meeting Sai’s with his own level gaze, as though they were equals.

He would hear Sai out. 

It struck him then that he did not know how to do this.He was not trained for speeches and attention and grandstanding.He was meant for efficiency.He was meant for the shadows.

But there was no room to stay the same. He would become something new, as they all had to. 

“The realm is at war,” he said, determination raising his voice.“You could take it over now, but what would you achieve?”

The line of men behind Yamato shifted uneasily.Danzo had not chosen stupid men to join his ranks.He had chosen from the determined, the dissatisfied, the angry.But had not chosen fools.

“I’ll tell you. You’d win a bloody patch of dirt, a few walls.And all it would cost you is good sword arms and _time._ You’d open the gates for the monsters outside, and you would buy us all death.”

Sai was close enough to see the white of Yamato’s knuckles where he clenched his sword too tightly.He could see the conflict in Yamato’s gaze.

No, Danzo did not select fools to join his personal army. And Yamato could also see what Sai did not say.They had to choose Naruto. They had to accept him as their leader and follow his orders and ride at his back in battle.

And that required confidence in his leadership—the very thing the King had failed to inspire.Certainly, he could draw friends and supporters to his side.He had a charisma that made those who spoke to him, who knew him, to his side.But he had also pushed people away, sending a faction of squires led by Shikamaru Nara to Sasuke Uchiha’s side.

Even Sai was not sure that this was a better bargain.To take power would mean death, but that did not mean that King Naruto could promise survival. Sai could only hope that Yamato would agree that a sliver of a chance of survival was better than none at all.

Yamato lowered his blade.He stepped forward, past Sai, past Sakura, past Danzo’s corpse.He stopped before Naruto and stood with his spine as straight as an arrow flying into it’s target’s heart.Sai’s mouth went dry as he wondered if he had miscalculated.If all his efforts were for nothing and he was about to watch the carnage unfold as he had predicted.

Until Yamato kneeled before King Naruto.

“My sword arm is yours, your majesty,” he said, lifting his blade with two hands, flat across his palms.

There was a wave of movement then, as each of the men who had once served only Danzo bowed before the King of Konoha.

Hope was a dangerous thing in war.But at the sight, Sai let himself wonder if perhaps they had a chance.


	28. xxiii. avenging the past

xxiii. avenging the past

Kakashi stood in the center of Danzo’s chamber, facing his own death.If he tried, he could still remember the feel of Sakura’s dagger sliding between his ribs.It had been sharp and hot, even as the tips of his fingers cooled and his vision had flickered in and out as if his body had tried to protect his mind from what had happened.

The last thing he remembered was his head in Sakura’s lap and darkness.

With Danzo dead, the room had no more power.There were no illusions here, no dark memories waiting in the shadowed corners of this place.But Kakashi could not help looking over his shoulder, waiting for the world to shift and the Sharingan’s power to take them all.

It felt like only a handful of days since he had died. 

No, that wasn’t right.

It felt like decades.It felt like he had lived a lifetime there in the underworld; the lifetime he might have had if Obito and Rin had lived.If fate had not demanded blood.He could still remember the feeling of camaraderie, the easy life under the reign of a (still living) King Minato.

But it had been a lifetime without a glimpse of pink hair, or the flicker of mischief in Sakura’s green eyes.A lifetime without the woman who now stood by his side.Who curled her hand in his, tightening her grasp as her own memories of this place washed over her. 

“We should burn this place,” Sakura said, her voice a quiet whisper. 

All around them, members of the guard were at work.They chipped away at mortar and lifted stones, measuring the extent of Danzo’s crimes and making sure that no one would stumble into this place and uncover the evil that hid within.Kakashi had made each of them swear an oath of silence before he knew what they would find.He could not afford rumors of Danzo’s atrocities to sweep through the town.In the thick of siege and winter, it would be like throwing a match to kindling and letting a forest-fire rage.

“We’ve found bones,” Kotetsu called, summoning Kakashi and Sakura to his dig site.

And so he had.He lifted a heavy piece of stone, his back straining under the weight, to reveal bits of skeleton.There was a ribcage, a femur.And there, in the corner, a skull.The bone around the eye sockets was chipped and damaged, as though someone had violently torn out the eyes that had once rested there.

Danzo had been thorough in his quest for the Sharingan’s power. 

Kakashi would never know how he had gotten the bodies of the members of the Uchiha clan.The massacre had occurred in their manor to the east, but somehow under all their noses Danzo had stolen their bodies and used them as fuel for his magic.

It was a grave injury.Not only to Kakashi’s duty but also to his pride.It had been his duty to keep the city safe and somehow, Danzo had snuck in under his nose, creating a chamber of horrors and a web of control that reached around the king itself.

In the end, he supposed it was fair retribution that Danzo’s malice had turned on him.

But Sakura had not deserved to be caught in the crossfire.And for that, Kakashi would never forgive himself.

Not that she had let it dampen her.Beside him, Sakura shone with ferocity, her teeth bared as she looked down at the bones.He could feel the fury crackling off of her, like the air before a midsummer storm.

For the length of their journey home, they had not spoken of that day, just as they had not spoken of what the other had seen in the underworld.But even without words, he knew in his very bones, that when Sakura had slid the knife between his ribs, it had not been he that she attacked. 

He had seen the horror and surprise in her gaze, even as the light faded and his energy had slipped away.It hadn’t been guilt—guilt would have implied culpability and purpose.No, it had been nothing but sheer, wide-eyed disbelief.

And then she had come for him in the underworld.

Since their return to the world of the living, Kakashi got the sense that Sakura was afraid to let him out of her sight.Throughout the length of their journey she had kept a hand on him at all times.Either wrapped between his fingers or resting on his shoulder.When they rode, and she could not maintain contact, she rode behind him, and when they camped she slept at his side; limbs entwined in his.It was as though she thought he might, at any moment, slip back into the realm of death.

How ironic then, that it was he who benefitted most from the arrangement.For if Sakura feared that Kakashi might disappear, it was nothing to the terror he felt for her.The drums of war were beating, and Sakura believed she was invincible.He could see it in the way she took command of a room, in the way she kept an eye on him as though _she_ were the one in charge of his protection.She had let the entire great hall believe that she still possessed the sorcery Tsunade had taught her, but Kakashi knew better.

Sakura had no idea how vulnerable she was.

She had confided the truth to him on the first night of their journey, over their campfire.It had been a late night, the kind where they should have slept early and prepared for the morning’s rideBut neither had been willing to sleep.It had been only hours since they had returned to the world of the living, and they had drawn the conversation on and on.As if they both had feared that by going to sleep, they would break some kind of spell and find themselves once again wrapped in Death’s illusion.

Sakura had not looked at him as she explained that her powers were gone.She had stared into the dying embers of their campfire and told him of how she had bargained away her power for entrance to the underworld.

 _A fair price_ , she said as she looked up at him.

His heart had clenched at that, as he realized what she had given up.Her strength.Everything she had risked for and fought for over four long years under Tsunade’s tutelage.She was still a knight, for all that she had not undergone the ceremony. But she could no longer heal.She could no longer summon magic to rip through any enemy, nor wield the power that had given her victory over Sasori of the Akatsuki. 

Would a fair price be her life, paid late, with interest?Would that be his punishment for daring to forsake the land of death?To be forced to watch as Sakura was ripped from his side and taken as an unwitting sacrifice?

Kakashi would not allow it.

However, the greatest obstacle was Sakura’s own insistence that she was immortal.

“Burn the bodies,” Sakura ordered, her voice echoing off the walls.“And destroy this room.I don’t want anyone else getting ideas.” 

It was a good thing that she had won the loyalty of his guard on their journey back from Sunagakure.The group listened to her commands, not caring that she was little better than a squire.From another, it would seem like the commands of an officious noble, but Sakura had won their loyalty as surely as she had won Kakashi’s heart. 

“Let's get out of here,” she said, her cold voice shattering into something delicate.A lock of her hair had escaped her ponytail.Unable to resist, Kakashi reached up and brushed the errant piece of hair behind her ear.

But before he could answer, Kurenai arrived, her face bearing bad news.

* * *

In the privacy of Kakashi’s office, Kakashi finally let Kurenai speak.It was dangerous to get news in public, when gossip could be too easily unleashed, to spred dissent and paranoia.

“Report,” he ordered, preparing himself for the worst.

“Our food stores will last another month, but no longer.And then only if we limit people to strict rations.”

“And if we don’t limit them?”

Kurenai’s lovely face was set into a grim frown.“A week.Maybe two at the most, but no more.”

Kakashi ran a hand through his silver hair in frustration.

He had set her to taking a proper inventory of what they had available.Naruto was no mathematician and had trustingly leaned on Danzo for such administrative tasks.When he had seen the official records Danzo had kept, Kakashi’s stomach had sunk-but he had not thought all hope was lost yet.He had been certain that the old man had a secret store of food to keep himself and his men fed.

Now he knew that was nothing but foolish optimism. There was not enough food to last into the winter and a protracted siege.Without trade and open access to the forest, people would starve.They needed to act, and soon. 

But they did not have the men they needed.

That was the second issue that Kakashi had sent Kurenai to investigate.And judging from the grave look on her face, she had no better news to offer.

Almost all of Konoha’s most experience knights had been assigned to the various corners of the kingdom.On patrol, on diplomatic missions, some even for reasons that Kakashi could not guess at.As far as he could tell, their orders had been thin and their purpose unnecessary. 

If Danzo had not been dead, Kakashi would have hauled him before a tribunal for gross incompetence.If he did not think Danzo too arrogant to ever ally with Sasuke Uchiha, Kakashi would have accused him of conspiracy.Konoha’s forces had been too perfectly divided, leaving them open to attack and defenseless before this siege. 

Sir Guy, Sir Asuma, and a score of others had been granted squadrons of fighting men and sent for needless purposes hundreds of miles away.Kakashi fostered strong suspicions that Danzo had been losing patience with Naruto’s reign and planned a coup.Each of the fighters that were missing were knights that would not have stood by as Danzo tightened his grasp around the realm.And now they were stranded on the other side of an army. 

The leadership expertise of fighters like Sir Asuma and Sir Guy was sorely missed, but that was nothing compared to the loss of the fighting force they led.Worse, Kakashi could gather almost no information on their locations.Messengers on foot were impossible to get out of the city—Kakashi and Sakura had only narrowly reached the safety of the city walls, and that only with substantial luck.A messenger, armed with vital information, would be too much a liability.The risk was too great that he would fall into enemy hands.

And a man terrified for his life was just as likely to bargain for it with all the information he possessed. 

Kakashi could not stop thinking of how different this could have been.They had allies.They had fighters.But they had no way of reaching either of them.

“I take it no word from Asuma then,” Kakashi asked, already knowing the answer.

Kurenai’s expression was sour. 

“Did you try a bird,” Kakashi asked, musing over his lack of options.

“The damned creatures have taken up archery,” Kurenai snapped.Fury crackled in her burgundy eyes.“I sent a bird, but one of them shot it out of the sky.”

Concern made Kakashi’s eyebrow arch.

“You didn’t-“

“There was a note to Asuma attached, nothing more,” she said, laying his fears to rest. 

Kakashi should not have expected anything less than the height of competence from her.Kurenai was calm and measured and one of the few of his men that didn’t seem afraid of the monsters.But at that moment, he had been plagued by the image of valuable information falling into the hands of the white creatures.

Disappointment hit him in a wave.For he had the beginnings of a plan—if only he could get word to the rest of their stranded fighting force.

Kakashi’s brow furrowed as he considered his lack of options.“I’m promoting you to lieutenant,” he said, signing a piece a document that had been waiting on his desk for months.He had considered Kurenai for the position months ago, before the debacle of his own demise.Now that Kurenai had shown she could keep her cool even while literal monsters stood at the gate, Kakashi could think of a better time for the appointment.“Put together a group and get creative.We need to figure out a way to send a message to the knights on the other side of that army.”

But before Kurenai could respond with an affirmative, alarm bells rang on the horizon, shattering his calm and presenting him with a new set of headaches.

* * *

The crowd that had gathered in the Castles courtyard was a mix of guardsmen, the former members of Danzo’s private army, and even Kiba and his hound Akamaru.Kakashi picked through them, irritated that despite the alarm bells that had rung, urgency seemed to be missing from the group.

It did not take long to figure out why.

The alarms had been sounded for a lone figure, a stranger in the middle of the courtyard.But Kakashi recognized her.

Blue hair that whipped in the wind would have been enough to give away her identity—but the woman still wore the livery of the Akatsuki.Paper wings hung from her back, wings that had once allowed her to bypass the walls of Konoha and lead an attack.Now they had let her cross over the army of monsters to again reach the heart of his city.

His stomach sank—according to intelligence reports, the Akatsuki had all but disappeared.There had been no attacks as if they had gone dormant when the weather cooled.Now, Kakashi imagined a world where he had to fight off the surprise attacks of the vicious mercenaries and handle the demands of an ongoing siege.

The kingdom would not last a week.

Sakura pushed through the crowd, drawn to his side like a magnet.Something in Kakashi’s heart seized at her presence.On instinct, he put out an arm in front of her, as if his limb would keep her safe, should the woman from the Akatsuki attack. 

But Sakura gasped at the sight of the woman, not in fear but as in surprised recognition. 

In turn, the blue-haired woman turned to Kakashi and Sakura and she smiled.It was an expression devoid of warmth, but it bore no promise of violence.

“I am Konan,” she said, bowing her head in a greeting nod.“Formerly of the Akatsuki.”

“Formerly?”Kakashi asked.

“The Akatsuki has been disbanded,” Konan said, and sorrow pierced her gaze. 

“What of Nagato,” Sakura asked, her voice breathy with…concern?Is struck Kakashi that much had occurred while he had been dead.He spared Sakura curious glance but filed his questions away for later.For now, it was far more important to show a united front.

“Our leader is dead,” Konan said, “murdered at the hands of Sasuke Uchiha.” 

“I’m sorry,” Sakura replied, honest regret in her voice.Members of the Akatsuki had nearly killed them both, but still Sakura could show compassion for the death of their leader.Even as this woman had been behind the attack that had claimed Tsunade’s life. 

But his mind reeled as he considered what a messenger with wings could mean.How fast could this woman travel?Could she be trusted? 

Given his way, he would make her earn his trust.He would have tested her to see where her fault lines were and how far she would go to serve a kingdom she had once attacked. But now, there was no time.Their food stores would not last long enough to give him the chance.

Kakashi turned to Sakura, a question in his gaze.Perhaps it was foolish, but Sakura seemed to know what he asked even before he could speak. 

She nodded, once.

“I am Kakashi,” he said, stepping forward.“I believe we may have an enemy in common.”


	29. VI.  Sixth Interlude

VI.Sixth Interlude

As Sasuke slipped through Konoha’s defenses, he marveled at his enemy’s foolishness.They truly believed that they could keep him out, keep him from his home and his birthright.It had occurred to no one that for every secret hiding place, there was a web of gossip and youthful misdeeds passing down such information from squire to page in an unending chain of mischief.

They had truly forgotten that he had once been one of them and knew their secrets as well as he knew his own past.

Mischief indeed, Sasuke thought as he slipped between one such crack on the southern wall.It required jumping across a river and swimming beneath a broken grate, which was likely why none in the guard had thought to board it up.But it was a time-honored competition between pages to see who could slip beneath it the fastest.Naruto and Sasuke had been no different, folding it into the layers of intricate ritual that made up their youthful competitions.

Now he used that same entrance to re-eneter the city.It was easy to disguise himself, with a heavy coat and hat.The streets were empty, emptier than they had ever been in the height of summer before food had gotten expensive and anyone in the city even imagined tragedy waiting on the horizon.Anyone who looked out their windows would see Sasuke Uchiha, but they would not recognize him.They thought of him as the wolf at their gates, the cold winter chill, the nightmare, and the bite of their hunger. 

They did not think of him as one of them.If they looked out their window they would see just another boy in a ragged coat, scarf wrapped around his head against the cold.A forsaken son of Konoha, as touched by tragedy as any one of them.

But it was too late for such sentiments.

For Sasuke knew of their plans.Konoha would launch its final attack at dawn.

He did not have spies in the city, but he had Shikamaru, who had done his own math and his own predictions.It was why he had joined Sasuke’s side so easily.He knew as well as any in the castle that their supplies would not last much longer.And no commander wanted to lead his men into battle when they had been living on rations—no, they would strike sooner, while they could still remember the feel of a full stomach and a warm fire.

Hours of debate and calculations placed their best estimate at an attack tomorrow.Now that Sasuke had slipped behind the walls, he could see they were right.

Everywhere he looked, he saw signs of forces mustered.Stocks of weapons lined against the walls.Light radiated from the windows of blacksmith’s, as the clanging of their hammers echoed through empty streets.Sasuke wove through alleys, dodging the uniformed members of the guard.It had only been a meager few days since word had spread of Kakashi Hatake’s return to Konoha, but in that time the guard had increased in number and the members of Danzo’s private army had faded into obscurity.Tonight they seemed to be hyper-alert, scanning the horizon at every corner.It took more effort than usual to dodge their gaze.

They could try to muster a fighting force, but it would be futile.His army had circled the city, and in mere days Madara would reach his full strength.They did not have the fighters—the others had been cut off and Sasuke had been certain to train the Zetsus to stop any of Konoha’s messages from coming through.There would be nothing to stop him from walking through the city gates its savior and its future.Sasuke reached the base of the castle, marveling at the lack of security.Konoha had not fortified its stronghold in the slightest.As if, in their arrogance, they could not imagine anyone breaking through their stone walls. 

Sasuke stopped at the base of the castle and looked up; waiting for his signal.

The south-facing window at the top of the nearest guard tower flickered once, twice, thrice, as someone put their hand over a candle, dimming and brightening the orange glow.

Against his will, Sasuke’s feelings launched a war upon themselves.He resented the feeling of faint trepidation in his gutBut even more, he hated the feeling of excitement that coursed through his veins.As if every nerve in his body drew him to the small room at the top of that tower.It took every effort to quell the morass of feelings in his chest as he let himself through the small wooden door and into the depths of the castle. 

Inside was a foreign world.The castle had once been filled with the smell of cooking and the noise of clattering pots and footsteps as lovers slipped away to forbidden trysts.Now there was nothing but the smell of cold winter air and space where once this place had been filled with life.

On a normal year they would be preparing for a feast to mark the longest night of the year, a grand celebration that filled the extra time between dusk and dawn with stories, wine, and inevitably, weakened judgment and stolen romances. 

None of that would happen this year.Because of Sasuke.If not for he, Madara Uchiha would still have been bound in the basement of Orochimaru’s stronghold.Had he not been the one to slide a sword through Orochimaru’s gut, had he not stood at the front of an army that despised him, this place would have been brimming with life. 

He had extended his hand and changed the world. It should have felt powerful to know he could reshape the world, that he had changed it once and would change it yet again into something new, something more fitting for the sins of a people willing to glut themselves on blood and ignorance to keep the monsters of their past at bay. 

Why then, did guilt creep in with every step he took?

At the top of the stairs, he took a deep steadying breath.He had no room for weakness.Sasuke Uchiha could not be the kind of man who second-guessed, whose hands shook with anticipation.There was no space for weakness against _this_ foe. 

He would not survive, otherwise.

He knocked once, letting the echo of his knuckles on wood hover in the air.

Once was all it took. 

Naruto opened the door, his blue eyes lighting up with relief.

“I didn’t think you would come,” Naruto said, his voice a crushed whisper.Without waiting for Sasuke’s response, he pulled him into his room, shutting the door behind them.He spared a furtive glance into the hall beyond.No one could know of Sasuke’s presence and Naruto’s tolerance of it.

Inside the room looked like it always did—warmly lit by candles, a decanter of wine waiting for his arrival.As the king, Naruto had access to better food than he knew the rest of his people, but even this place setting was sparse.There was none of the luxuries of the fall, only a simple meal of hearty stew and bread.

But it filled the room with the aromas of fatty, long-cooked meats and rich broth.Konoha may have been watching their food stores dwindle, but Sasuke had been living on battlefield rations for months.He and the other Zetsus ate what they could hunt, and even that was meager.The smell of seasoned food, of a meal prepared with care, was enough to make his mouth water.

“Should I even waste food on you?” Naruto teased.“They’ll call me a traitor for feeding my enemy.”Even as he spoke, a frost of seriousness crossed Naruto’s blue eyes.Sasuke realized, then, that he had not been joking.Not truly.A part of Naruto still rightfully saw Sasuke as the enemy.

He should have been immune to the bite of shame.But as Sasuke took a bowl from Naruto’s offered hands, he felt it’s stab, sharp and relentless.They had met like this throughout the siege.Sasuke would never know why he had first slipped back into Konoha to stare into Naruto’s window, and he would never understand why Naruto had let him in. 

They never spoke of war or of parley or of negotiation.They merely sipped ale in silence that first night, each waiting for the other to make some kind of move. There had been no movement.Nothing momentous.But the air between them had been heavy with promise, an attraction that Sasuke had been unable to resist.And when he could bear it no more, when its power too strong, he had fled.Sasuke had slipped back into the night, half-drunk on ale and the transgression of their meeting.

And then it had happened again.And again.And again. 

The meetings were never the same.Sometimes they were nothing but short arguments, where Naruto tried to talk Sasuke out of waging war.There was never any evidence for why Sasuke owned Konoha a duty, only pleading and promises of mercy.Sasuke never relented and would leave, swearing that it was the end.

But somehow he always returned.

And sometimes these meetings lasted till dawn—long drawn out affairs that circled around the past and the future, all avoiding the grim realities of the present.

“This is all going to end soon,” Naruto said, gesturing to the room, shattering Sasuke’s thoughts with his words.Sasuke still had not spoken, but he took a sip from the offered bowl.The soup was exactly as it smelled, salty and rich and delicious.“I shouldn’t tell you that, but I know you already know.You’re not stupid.”

“Perhaps,” Sasuke said.The first word he offered.

“They wouldn’t lie to me about that,” Naruto fired back, misunderstanding his skepticism.But there was a note of impatience and indignity in his tone as if he doubted his own standing in Konoha.

_That’s not what I meant_ , Sasuke thought. _Perhaps I_ am _a fool.Perhaps I_ am _stupid._ After all, he had come here again and again of his own volition.But that was not the thought of a returning conqueror.To steel his nerves, Sasuke wrapped his hand around the hilt of the knife at his hip and stifled that thought. He needed to end this soon. 

“There’s a game they say is good for strategy,” Naruto said, producing a wooden box.Sasuke had to suppress his eye roll. 

“Kakashi tried to teach us chess years ago, you idiot,” he said.Rather than be insulted, Naruto grinned.As if hearing Sasuke call him names erased the years of conflict between them.As if it brought them back to being two boys with nothing so weighty as fate between them. 

“I thought maybe you’d forgotten the rules,” he said.“I’ve seen your army out there.They don’t seem much for games.”

It was true—the Zetsus were not civilized enough to sit down and move pieces of carved bone across a checkered board.It was a reminder that they were only an echo of humanity, not men outright.And Sasuke wondered what other traces of civilization he had shed.

Would he even notice if he crossed the line from man to beast?

But then Naruto was laying out pieces, not bothering to ask before he set the white pieces on his own side.They both knew the young king was too impatient to wait for a second turn, would never give up the perceived advantage of striking first and setting the tone for their match. 

Internally, Sasuke cursed himself for indulging Naruto.The longer he stayed the more this dreaded weakness took its hold on him.But the candlelight flickered across Naruto’s features, highlighting the strong arc of his nose, the soft curve of his bottom lip.

And Sasuke’s hands seemed to move of their own accord as he set the black pieces up, arranging them to face down Naruto’s side of the game.He had never known Naruto to care for games of strategy.He had always been too impatient, too quick to jump to the clash of steel on steel to care much for the slow, ponderous skill of strategy.

As if reading Sasuke’s thoughts, Naruto locked eyes with his.In a voice for shared jokes, he said, “People keep saying that this game can make someone a better king.The implication seems to be that I need to work on my skills.”

“Crumbling under pressure?” Sasuke asked.It was easy to forget who they were on a night like this.Easy to forget that they were no longer two pages with no destiny greater than an early morning session on the training field.

But Naruto did not seem to forget.For all his gentle tone and teasing words, that seriousness had not left him.He was still considering the chess pieces before him as though they could hold the answer to his future. 

Their opening moves were quick, and unlike the games, they had played as pages, Naruto seemed t consider each move.They were still rash and aggressive, but each time he moved a piece, Sasuke began to wonder if it was _he_ who had become predictable.Naruto seemed to know exactly where to send his pieces to counter Sasuke’s plans.It was not a testament to how well the king could play games, but how deeply he knew Sasuke.At first, they battled it out gently, dodging near-misses and laughing off slight losses.

But once the critical pieces began to fall, the tenor of the game seemed to change.The playful air disappeared from the room completely.

“It’s not too late,” Naruto murmured, as Sasuke claimed his rook. 

“For me to show mercy?”Sasuke asked, curling his lips into a smirk.

But he met Naruto’s gaze, he flinched.The king had not meant the game of chess alone.

Sasuke remembered then, why he had come.That for all the wine and candlelight and games, this wasn’t a social call.This was different.

This was the end.

He wrapped his fingers around the hilt of the blade at his hip.This game, these trysts were all a distraction.This thing between them would end tonight.

Naruto’s reign would end tonight.

But the spell on Naruto had also been broken.It was as if by Sasuke’s words, he had given up his game of patience.

They stood at the same instant.Sasuke’s hand was on his blade, but Naruto was faster, crashing into the table knocking the table aside, sending game pieces scattering across the floor.And then Naruto was on him.Naruto’s hands wrapped around Sasuke’s collar, pressing him against the stone wall.Naruto was taller than he, with more muscle mass, and Sasuke was powerless to escape his grasp.Sasuke’s heart was in his throat, and then Naruto was close, too close—

—and then they were kissing.Naruto’s lips crushed against Sasuke’s, his teeth worrying at Sasuke’s bottom lip.Heat flushed through his cheeks as his body seemed to move of its own accord.When had his fingers abandoned the sword at his hip to curl through Naruto’s blonde hair?But his thoughts were jumbled. 

The force of Naruto’s body against his and the unrelenting stone at his back was everything.His breathing harsh, his throat bare for Naruto’s lips and teeth. 

Naruto fumbled with the collar of Sasuke’s shirt, his fingers clumsy and inaccurate.But everything in Sasuke’s body welcomed the crush of Naruto’s body against his.Sasuke palmed at the leather of Naruto’s pants, panting against the feel of his teeth.A greedy moan filled the air, and Sasuke couldn’t be sure if it was Naruto or his own traitorous voice. 

There was a clanging of bells in the distance.

Naruto jumped away from Sasuke in alarm.His breath heaved from his chest, and his lips were bruised, a stark contrast to the wild look in his blue eyes and the mess of his blonde hair.

“The changing of the watch,” Naruto said breathily as if laughing at his own foolishness.But he did close the distance between them again and he did not look at Sasuke with desire—but with regret.

The spell had been broken.

With trembling fingers, Sasuke re-fastened the top three buttons of his shirt.Desperately, he took inventory of his body.His heart still pounded in his throat, the embers of desire still burned in his core.But shame made his skin hot and his cheeks flush. 

He had come here to kill Naruto, to bring an easy end to the war.But he knew now that if he tried, he would fail.There was no strength left in his muscles.Any attempt to strike would miss. Sasuke could feel the ghost of his blade, already fumbling in his fingers.

How did Naruto have such power over him?In an instant, he had turned Sasuke’s resolve to water.Hatred curled through him. He was not some weak, mooning boy desperate for scraps of affection. 

What had become of the final scion of the Uchiha family?Returning conqueror of Konoha? And yet the king of Konoha, the leader of the realm that had claimed the Uchiha family blood, had once again brought him to his knees.

“We settle this tomorrow,” he said, venom dripping from his voice. 

“Wait,” Naruto said, reaching for Sasuke.“We don’t have to do this.”As if there were words that could solve this.

“Yes, we do,” Sasuke snarled, pushing past Naruto.His thoughts were hopelessly jumbled, but he knew one thing: he had to escape. Before Naruto could do any more damage.

“I’ll see you on the battlefield,” he spat, slamming the door between them.


	30. xxiv. a serious problem with which we were intimately and passionately concerned

xxiv. a serious problem with which we were intimately and passionately concerned

Sakura’s face was already flushed as Kakashi handed her the bottle of wine.Somehow, the room had grown hot, and the fabric of her shirt too tight.They had stolen away to the quiet chamber she had claimed for herself in the rebuilt castle.When they had first returned, the new castle had seemed too big and too empty, and so Sakura had claimed a small corner room and tried to make it a home for herself.In the seven days since their arrival, she had barely slept here—there had been little time for rest. But tonight, it had seemed critically important to steal some time for themselves before tomorrow morning’s battle. 

In the corner, a fire crackled and snapped, not quite warm enough to ward the chill away but enough to make shadows dance along the walls and cast everything in rich orange light.Sakura was wrapped in a blanket, and she knew she looked tired and drawn.They both did—Kakashi had dark circles under his eyes and Sakura knew she had grown thin and wan as the days went on.He still wore the uniform of the guard, with his dark wolfs-fur mantle hanging on his shoulders.These days it seemed as if he never cast off his duty to the realm, never stopped being the competent Knight-Captain of the Guard, with no demands and needs but those that his station commanded. 

But when he looked at her now, it was not as a commander, but as a man.Despite her tired eyes and the exhausted slump of his shoulders, he looked at her exactly as he had when they had reunited in the underworld.

The intensity of the gaze made her thoughts swim, so Sakura took a swig of the wine. 

It wasn’t good wine—sickly sweet, but cut through with too much wateriness.But it was the best they could find, given the circumstances.The greatest disappointment of it all was that the wine wasn’t even very strong; they had been passing the bottle back and forth for the better part of an hour and yet she was barely drunk. 

It was a pity.She had hoped, despite her better sense, to get so drunk that she would black out and kill the thoughts of tomorrow.To murder her terror.An endless, demanding terror that thrummed through her veins.Terror for Kakashi, for Naruto, for Kurenai, for the hundreds of fighters within the city walls that would ride for battle.Terror for Ino, who stood on the enemy’s side.Who had once been her best friend and had now joined Sasuke and his quest for destruction.

And yes, terror for herself. 

It had never been like this in Sunagakure.There had been no time to linger on the threat before them.There had only been an attack and a need to react.A call to action.She had not had time to think before facing off against Sasori. 

Now, this week had been the longest week of her life.Every minute had felt like the end, as she watched with dread the building of their fighting force.Despite the confidence in Kakashi’s tone as he issued commands, she couldn’t help but be swayed by fear. 

“Are you sure we’re ready?” Sakura asked, trying and failing to stop the concern from slipping through her voice. 

Kakashi met her gaze, his expression level and firm.He wore no mask or eyepatch, and she could see the whorl of the Sharingan, as if even now it drained power from him. There was no need for disguise or distance between them—they were long past such barriers.In her tiny room that looked out over the courtyard where Tsunade had died, there was room for nothing but honesty.It was one of the few places no one would look for him.

Kakashi had become too central to their war plans.It was impossible for him to escape questions and requests for aid.Everyone wanted something from him.Sakura couldn’t help the way her chest crushed in on itself when she looked at him.It was on _his_ account that she had come back to this place.And now that they were back, Konoha had swept him back into the center of it, looking to his guidance at every turn.

“We’ve done everything we can,” Kakashi said.His words sounded so resigned, but his tone was steady and calm.He reached forward, putting a hand on her knee. 

With a weak smile, Sakura passed him the bottle of wine. 

There was no escaping the fact that their plan was flawed.They had allied with Konan, the woman from the Akatsuki, making quick use of her ability to get past the Zetsu blockade.But she could only travel so far, and their allies had distance to cross.Their numbers would be less—far less than they would have been given time.Her stomach churned at the thought of what could have been.If they had been able to get a message to their allies in Sunagakure, perhaps King Gaara would have been willing to lend them aid.But their recourses could not last the time it would take Sunagakure to reach them. 

Konoha was on its own.

Even more terrifying, Sakura could not help but wonder if they could truly trust her.It had been on her account that Kakashi had accepted their aid.But she was their only messenger, the only person who could reach their fighters on the other side of the blockade.And it was out of trust in her that they went to battle, blindly assuming that the rest of their forces would crash into the back of the monstrous army like a hammer. 

But it was based on trust in a former enemy.

“We’ll win,” he said, meeting her gaze directly.His eyes were a grey storm of intensity.Even if she didn’t trust herself, Sakura had to believe in him.Believe in this.Slowly, she tilted forward. 

“I know,” she said, her lips barely brushing his. 

And then he reached forward, curling his hand at the base of her skull, and drew her close before kissing her.She melted in to the touch, heat burning in her belly.Somehow the sour wine tasted better on his lips than it ever had in from the bottle.

But she could not banish the feeling that it should never have come to this. 

Yes, there were monsters on the other side, but they were led by _Sasuke._ Sasuke who had once been part of her team of pages, Sasuke who she had once sworn to marry.And somehow he had swayed Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Neji to his side.All people she had grown up with, who she had spent hours on the training yard brawling with, who she had gotten up to youthful mischief beside.

Even dead, Danzo’s destruction was not complete.His legacy was one of division—at his command, the realm had turned on its own.And so, the young knights that made up its future had turned on it. 

Kakashi seemed to sense her thoughts, because he let her go, brushing a spare lock of her hair behind her ear.As he pulled away, a storm seemed to cross his face.

“It would be safer for you-“

“Stop,” she said, her stomach sinking.

She knew this conversation had been coming.For days now, when Kakashi thought she wouldn’t notice, she caught him looking at her with worry in his gaze.As if she were a fragile, delicate creature he wanted to lock away.

“I would never tell you what to do,” Kakashi said.His hand rested on her thigh, and she felt his fingers tighten on the flesh there; as if what he feared most was to let her go. “But-“

“And I would never tell you what to do,” she cut him off.“But imagine if I asked you to stand down.Imagine if I asked you to cower behind stone walls, while the members of the guard fought and died for you.”

It was clear by the look on his face that he knew she was right.It was an unthinkable idea.The Knight-Captain of the Guard would always join his men in the field.

“I know,” he said, his voice barely audible over the crackling of their fire. “But I would never forgive myself if I didn’t try to protect you one more time.”

Somehow, the way he said it made it sound like the _last_ time. 

A lifetime ago, they had once fought this fight.Before the semifinals in a tournament for a position as Champion, Kakashi had asked her to stand down.She had been a different girl then; headstrong and desperate to prove her value.

And when Kakashi had asked her to quit, it had been like a knife through her chest. 

_Why do this?_ He had asked.And she had spat fire and venom, declaring that if anyone was to be Naruto’s Champion, it would be she: Sakura Haruno.

And Kakashi had relented, skepticism written all over his face.It was so different from the way he looked at her now.With trust. With conviction.

But Kakashi was not the only one who had changed.Sakura would never admit it out loud, but there was a part of her that wanted to hide.That wanted to let the others do the fighting.She had spent her magic away for a trip to the underworld and now there was nothing left.She had used the last of Tsunade’s gift to stop Danzo’s final attack, to stop him from lashing out and hurting the people she cared about.And now she was defenseless, just another fighter for the meatgrinder of war. 

On a black-sand beach, she had asked Kakashi forsake all of his vows and flee with her, but he had been the one who had prevailed.In the end, he had been right to talk her out of that plan.Coming home, she had realized that too much of herself was still tied to this place to ever abandon it.But it had not stopped the fear that grew in her heart. 

A fear she would never admit to.

“You don’t have to worry about me,” she lied, leaning forward.As if to convince herself as much as he, kissed him.It was a deep, hungry kiss; slow and methodical as his tongue slipped between her lips.She let herself drown in it, drown in the feel of his hand coming up to wrap around the back of her neck. 

Gently she pushed him down to the stone floor of the chamber.When she came up for air, releasing him from her touch, he looked like a man half addled from a fight.He grinned at her wolfishly before reaching up and gripping his hands around her waist.The feel of his hands, caging around her hips, was like stone, firm, and supportive.

Before Sakura could protest, Kakashi flipped their positions.With a yelp, Sakura found herself on the floor pinned beneath both his arms.Desire welled up in her, killing fear, killing regret.Kakashi’s eyes were half-lidded with lust, his attention honed in on her in a way that made her clothes suddenly seem too tight. 

But then he was on her, peeling her leather pants off while she tore off her own shirt until Sakura was completely bare beneath him.She was utterly exposed beneath him, while he still wore the dark uniform of the guard.He had not even removed the grey wolf’s fur mantle he wore against the cold. 

She reached up to play with the button of his shirt but he brushed her hand away, pinning it down beneath one of his own.She knew the feel of his hands well, but somehow the callouses on his hands seemed brand new against her own skin.The other hand slipped along her thighs, tracing up and down, leaving a trail of fire in its wake.

She squirmed against the touch, frustrated that his hand refused to move higher, avoiding the apex of her thighs.But each time she thought he would finally give in and stroke where she craved him so intensely, he moved away, his hand grazing down towards her knee.

“Impatient,” Kakashi said, with a throaty chuckle that made her skin burn.

“Always,” she replied, biting her lip and using her free hand to pull him down for another heated kiss.

It was then that his fingers reached their destination.Sakura gasped into his mouth as Kakashi’s fingers brushed just where she wanted him, sensation crashing against her. His fingers moved against her, gently at first then more insistent.

He released his vice grip on her other hand, and this time when she moved to unbutton his pants, he did not stop her.Her fingers were suddenly clumsy as her breath hitched with his every touch and her hips canted against his palm.But somehow, she managed to get the clasp open, freeing his length.She wrapped a palm around it, and Kakashi hissed into her mouth at the touch.

It never failed to amaze her the sounds that she could draw out of him.Stoic, composed Kakashi, coming undone by her hand. But even as she gripped her palm around his length, he matched her movements, driving two fingers inside of her.His free hand found her breast, pinching at her nipple, drawing from her lips breathy little moans at the sensation of it all. 

“More,” she panted, even as her body was already wracked with sensation, teetering on a cliff's edge. _“More.”_

He obliged.

* * *

They woke before dawn.Although every part of her begged for more sleep, there was a delicious soreness to her muscles.With a drowsy pleasure, she looked up at Kakashi, just waking beside her.His lashes were white against the angular cut of his cheek, and she could see the purple marks her teeth had left on the sloping muscular curve of his neck.A lazy smile stretched across his face as he looked down on her.Then his expression grew grim, and Sakura’s heart clenched as she remembered why they woke so early. 

The attack would start as the sun rose.Kakashi and his men on the wall had watched the creatures for days, trying to discover the times when they were dormant.In the end, their patrols did not stop, but their leaders were human.And even Sasuke Uchiha needed to sleep.

But it was still a risk.There was no promise that they wouldn’t open the gates to an ambush.

They stared at each other for a long moment, and Sakura could not help but wonder if his thoughts were aligned with hers.If he, too, was memorizing every line of her face in case the worst should happen on the battlefield. 

In case this was the last time they saw each other like this. 

Just when he looked like he might speak and shatter the silence between them, Sakura spoke.

“You can’t talk me out of it,” she reminded him again—the first words out of her mouth. 

Kakashi’s response was to kiss her on the forehead, his lips a tender brush. 

“I know,” he said.

The words were heavy with regret.

She had seen him die once—and she had rejected that reality.But there was no more power burning within her, none of the magic that had let her bend fate.And she suspected that Itachi Uchiha, who had cleared her path for the underworld was gone. 

If the worst should happen again, it would be final.

They prepared in silence, stepping out of the tangle of each other’s limbs to dress for battle.As Sakura began the long process of buckling her armor, she could feel the weight of what the day would be.The solemnity of it all settled on her shoulders as her armor did.

It was not a day for beauty, but still, Sakura chose the pink-washed steel of the armor Tsunade had given her.It had seemed decorous and vain, for all that it was made of the finest steel that money could buy.But as she strapped the metal greaves in place, it felt like, through her gift, Tsunade was there.Like her presence was there to save her once again.It was just a fantasy, but Sakura suspected that to survive the battle, she would need ever talisman she could muster.

Kakashi surprised her, as his hand settled on her shoulder. “Let me help,” he murmured, his lips so close they almost touched the curve of her ear. 

It was a blessing that he was behind her so that he could not see the tears that she blinked away.It was all so familiar, Kakashi’s protestations, the feeling of his hands tightening the straps of her amour, the nerves before a fight.

And yet nothing was the same. 

This time, she was no longer an insecure girl, waiting to prove herself.She felt none of the doubt that had fueled her passion that day.It had all been replaced with terror and resignation for the violence to come.

But this time, when Kakashi stopped there was a long pause before he said, “you should be ready for anything.”

And this time, when she turned to look at him, she felt the first crack in her fear.Once, the sight of Kakashi had filled her with resentment, like his very presence was a rebuke of who she had once been.Now when she looked at him, she felt peace.As if, at the center of her vortex of fear and worry was Kakashi, stilling all of it like the eye of a storm. 

“Let’s do this,” she said, before kissing him like it might be the very last time. 


	31. xxv. those who lived by the sword

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final battle begins!!!! I can't believe we've finally gotten this far. Thank you so much for reading and for all your comments as this story SLOWLY gets concluded!! I hope you guys are all healthy and doing well!

xxv. those who lived by the sword

Kakashi stood at the gate, waiting for Konan’s signal. The wind was a bitter chill against the exposed skin of his face.They had chosen the height of winter for this, the day after the longest night of the year.The drop in temperature would make for bitter fighting.

If it could even begin at all.As he waited, Kakashi could not help but wonder if the Akatsuki woman would appear at all. He still did not understand the shifting tides of her loyalties, but he trusted the fury in her gaze when she spoke of Sasuke and his army of monsters. And he needed her.

He could not afford to be wrong.Nor could he afford to let his concern show on his face. 

It had become obvious that he was the one who served as the leader here. Konoha’s army, a combination of the guard, the remnants of Danzo’s army looked to him for leadership. The remaining squires had also fallen in line behind his orders. King Naruto had readily surrendered leadership at his arrival.

Now, any shift in his mood would radiate out through his fighters like poison. And like poison, it could be fatal for their attack. 

But before Kakashi could begin to form contingency plans, Konan appeared over the walls.She landed silently before Kakashi and nodded, once.

The others were in position.

It was not quite relief that washed over him, but it was close.A grim acceptance.A readiness.

Kakashi lifted a hand, signaling for the gates to open. In his youths, the sounds of trumpets and war drums would announce the troops before a fight, rallying each side’s fighters into a froth of violence and bloodlust. There was none of that today.The gate had been well oiled so that no creaking would betray their actions to any of the waiting monsters. Orders had been distributed in advance, and fighters streamed out of Konoha in silence. He had spent hours ensuring that each of them knew their position, knew what role to play when the battle turned to chaos.

This battle demanded the cover of dimly lit dawn and surprise—for surprise was the best chance they had.

So Kakashi knew each of his fighters and knew what order they would leave the city.A lone figure towards the end of the line caught his attention immediately. The outlier wore a hooded navy cloak to shroud his identity.It was a valiant attempt at disguise, but Kakashi knew every one of his men, just as he knew every member of the town. 

And he could certainly recognize Naruto by his gait alone.

The figure passed by Kakashi, not looking up.This was a mistake, as it gave Kakashi the advantage he needed to grip Naruto by his hood and yank it down, instantly revealing the King’s face.

“Absolutely not,” Kakashi said.

Naruto glared up at him, his bottom lip curled in petulance.

“I’m the king,” he said. “I decide where I go.”

_A king only in name_. The words were almost out of his mouth before Kakashi’s iron self-control stepped in. Naruto had given up all semblance of command, content to let Tsunade and then Danzo, and now Kakashi himself run things in his stead. But that did not mean Naruto was meaningless. A king was still a symbol. A rallying point. And Kakashi could not afford to let his fighters watch such a symbol die. 

But Naruto would never understand that.He did not see himself as a symbol or leader, he saw himself as the same as any other warrior on the battlefield.To say differently would only cement his drive to join the fight and solidify his resentment for Kakashi.“As the king, we need you alive,” Kakashi fired back. “Imagine the succession crisis if you died.”

Naruto’s lip curled as if to ask: _Is that the best you can do?_

“The sword will choose the next king,” Naruto said, patting the Forest Flame’s hilt. “Probably from someone already on the battlefield, so that will make things simple.”

Frustration mounted as Kakashi realized the futility of this all.If Kakashi simply sent him back now, he would scale the walls to join the fight. Naruto would never stand by and watch as others rode into battle. It was one of the few great traits about him: the fact that he would dive into danger to save another. He had always been this way, even when his life had been no more valuable than a common street urchin's.

Before Kakashi could muster his next round of arguments, Naruto raised a hand to silence him. “I won’t sit by and watch others die for me. The king of Konoha must be a warrior, and so I will be on the field. If it finds me worthy the sword will protect me. If it doesn’t, well,” he shrugged. “I will deserve my fate.”

Naruto’s tone carried the perfect mixture of command and resignation to his duty.Even worse, it was logical.The Forest Flame, the kingmaking sword of Konoha had always rewarded the brave.And Naruto, for all his flaws, had always been fearless.Especially when someone else’s life was on the line.

Perhaps it was the fact that he had already allowed Sakura to join the meatgrinder of battle. Perhaps it was his irritation that in that moment, Naruto had chosen to behave like a true king.

Regardless of the reasons, Kakashi’s body seemed to move of its own accord as he stepped aside. There was no time for arguing.Naruto nodded in final parting as he continued on, joining the rest of the fighters in the battle.

And so Kakashi left the comfort of the city walls, allowing the last two guards on duty to shut the gates behind him. Behind their solid wood front, the final two guards were laying a complicated clockwork of steel bars to fortify the wood against siege.The gates of Konoha would stay shut until its army won the day.

Or until the last man had died in the city’s defense.

* * *

Later, Kakashi would barely remember the journey to the monsters’ camp. It seemed to stretch for hours as they slipped through the forest in ever smaller groups, stretching out to surround the camp of invaders.But his attention was honed on details that burned themselves into his memory.

The dark reaching branches of the trees above them.

The way his heart pounded in his throat as he stepped carefully through the silent snow.

The way his ears had perked at every noise as he waited, alert for noise.

The anticipation in his bones before he took the first steps towards the enemy’s encampment.

The feel of his fingers on his lips as he let loose the bird call to signal that the attack would start.

They moved slowly, slipping into the monsters’ camp.Here, the snow had been trampled down into blackened dirt.The embers of fire lit the grey morning with flashes of burgundy coals, illuminating dirty canvas tents. There seemed to be no watch, no guard waiting for their attack. As if in his hubris, Sasuke had never imagined that he might be the one to find himself under siege.

The front lines of the Konoha fighters slipped into the encampment like ghosts, to dispatch as many of the fighters as possible before the alarm could be raised. The bulk of their fighters would wait, to join the fighting when the remaining monsters had been awoken and they could drive a full onslaught from behind.But this was the truly dangerous part of the mission—entering the enemy’s territory with no knowledge but what they had gotten from Konan and her travels.It had been the bravest of them, vowing to move silently, with ample opportunity to be besieged.

So far it was all as she had said. And Kakashi could only hope that the rest of their plan had fallen to her orders. That the rest of their knights were on the other side of the camp, ready to join the battle.

But when they moved through the camp, Kakashi immediately sensed that something was wrong. It was easy to believe that Sasuke’s failure to set a watch was just one symptom of his hubris.But there no soldiers around the fire, no figures wrapped in sleeping bags.

No signs of life at all.

But the realization was too slow. He could not call his men back. The great automaton that was his army had begun its slow, winding work. No one man could turn it back on itself—they were too dilute. Cut into small squadrons operating on orders given out hours ago.

Helplessly, Kakashi watched as his men worked their way through the winding clusters of tents.They were too far away to signal to, just little dots of movement on the edges of his vision. But Kakashi could feel their escape routes slip away from them as they moved deeper into camp.

And deeper into an ambush.

Without a guard to dispatch, there was nothing but tents—clusters of shelter that Kakashi had meant to leave undisturbed for as long as possible. It was too easy to alert a sleeping enemy as you crept into their tent—too much fabric to rustle, too many ways to disturb the light alert them to your presence. But with no other targets, Kakashi rose to the bait.

Delicately, he slid his sword through the opening, parting the flap to reveal the tent’s shadowy insides.

But here, too, there were no signs of light.No sleeping figures, not personal effects.

Just a circle of dirt.

Then, in the space of one second to the next, the world erupted into cacophonous anarchy.

Kakashi shouted a warning, but it was just a wordless cry of alert. There were no words to describe the scene before him.

Monsters emerging from the earth, casting off black dirt from their backs. Here, finally, up close, Kakashi's stomach churned at the shiny, damp pale skin and the wide reflective yellow of their eyes. They were a subterranean nightmare come to life.

From his vantage point on the city walls, and from brief sightings from the shadows on their long journey home, the monsters had seemed like men—albeit slick and pale like they had crawled from the depths of a cave. This close, locked in combat, Kakashi could see that they were far from human. Their faces were segmented like an insect’s, their proportions slightly wrong. Spikes grew out of their flesh, like the carapace of a beetle. The sight of them, the sound of their joints clicking with movement, triggered some ancient horror. Kakashi lashed out again, struck with a sudden desperate desire to make the thing go away.To kill this inhuman threat, this assault on his senses.

But Kakashi’s moment of horrified awe passed quickly as the creatures launched into their attack. His sword was in his hand, rising to block the strike before he processed it. The creature’s claws glanced off his sword. Its fingers were tipped with sharp claws, and when they struck his blade the air rang with the sound of metal on metal. But when Kakashi struck, his first blow glanced off the monster’s arms. It wore no armor but its skin was stronger than a man's.

But he struck again, with more force.And this time, when his attack landed, the creature’s head slid off its shoulders And when its blood spurted across Kakashi’s face, it was as hot and wretched and laden with salt like any man’s. And when it fell, it did not rise again.

But where one went down, there were more.

He stepped out of the tent, determined to get some semblance of understanding, to see what chaos was being wrecked upon his army. 

Outside, the creatures were everywhere.It was like they had kicked an anthill, and now furious insects had flooded the battlefield to defend their homeland. Some of the creatures wore clothes--in their own way.None of it was quite right, as though they had picked up pieces of clothing as they picked through the land, preying on humans.One wore nothing but a tunic and a single pauldron.Another had entered the battle, its chest bare but wearing a tanned pair of leather britches.

It would have been amusing, had they not been so deadly.Cries sounded in the background. Cries of ‘ _To me! To me!’_.Shouts of fright, as the fighters of Konoha faced down their greatest fears.And worst of all, the sounds of the injured, bellowing in pain.

The entire Konoha force had been ambushed. 

Kakashi blocked out the sound, and what it meant. If he stopped to think, to fear for who might be out there, injured, dying, he would never be able to face the onslaught of the monsters.And it was truly an onslaught.Two more of the creatures rose to face him and sliced their heads from their bodies with ease.

But each time he knocked one down, spraying their blood across his face, three more rose in their stead, vicious and snapping and hungry for blood.Kakashi’s body worked like a clock, striking and parrying, dodging and slashing.He barely registered the fights as they happened, as he dipped into the deep focus he had mastered as a young knight.A claw sliced through the armor on his shoulder.Was the blood that sprayed across his face his own?Or merely the next enemy that fell before him.He could no longer tell the difference. 

His Sharingan was activated, slowing down the movement of the creatures as they attacked him, but draining energy with every second.He had never used it in a long campaign, had never dared. 

Now it made the creature's movements slow, giving Kakashi more time to react.It gave him time to scan the horizon.He caught sight of Kurenai, backed against Izumo and Kotetsu.The trio of them was surrounded, but Kakashi could do nothing to help them.They were out of his reach. 

Each of them was on their own. 

Kakashi was on his own.

On the horizon, he could see no signs of their reinforcements.Had Konan betrayed them after all?Would there be no rush of reinforcements?Would they die alone on this muddy killing field? 

It was a dreary thought.The battle would not survive without him.His men were good, but Kakashi was not a fool.He knew he was their leader, and he knew that if he fell here, they would be fumbling for guidance.A battle could not survive without good leadership.An army was made up of too many men, too many ideas to be so spread out.There were too many of them, hungry for flesh and blood.He tried to force them off, determined to live, determined to make it to the end of this.

Panic flared in him as he slashed through the monsters.His eyes were ever trained on the horizon, looking for a flash of pink hair, of armor glinting in the distance.

A battlefield was no place for such feelings.Battles were for selfishness and survival.For keeping your eye on the enemy and destroying all in your path.That was what his father had taught him. That was what he knew of duty. 

And yet Kakashi could not stop his search, cursing himself internally as the memory of his last conversation with Sakura.He could never have stopped her, but he should not have let her out of his sight.He should have kept her here, with him, so they could have fought side by side. 

But then he miscalculated.A step backward, and he was tripping, falling over the remnants of a camp fire.As he fell, he caught himself thinking of Sakura.Of her pink hair as it reflected the morning light. 

That was how they got the jump on him.He was distracted, paying too little attention to his surroundings and too much time scanning the horizon.He had allowed his instincts to take over, letting his body run like an automaton as he forgot the first rule of war. 

Think only of your enemy.

The first monster was on him, it’s segmented jaw snapping towards his face.Kakashi barely got his sword up, holding the flat of his blade in his palms to protect his face.But there was no stopping the rank odor of its breath, choking his senses with the reek of rotting meat. 

He tried to roll, but another creature was just there, its foot on his shoulder, holding him down.It's bared its teeth in a wretched, human grin as it saw that Kakashi realized he was trapped.That it, not he, would walk away from the battlefield this day. 

Until a spear pierced the creature that pinned Kakashi down, spraying blood and viscera

The creature slumped down on top of Kakashi, its heavy body pinning him down.But there was no resistance as he pushed it off, giving him the chance to strike out at the other creature above him.Kakashi latched his hand around his wrist and with a roar of power summoned the lightning that crackled in his veins.

The creature burnt to a crisp beneath his touch.

"You should have done that sooner," a booming, good-humored voice called.

Lit from behind, Sir Jiraiya looked like something from the pages of history.Bloodstained his long white hair, and he wore armor that could have been an antique--befitting a mountain hermit.And in his hands was a massive spear, and he seemed to be brimming with power. 

"Sorry I'm late," he said, extending a hand for Kakashi to shake.Kakashi clasped it gladly, feeling the rising swell of a changing tide.One man could not turn a battle, but as Kakashi watched Sir Jiraiya turn int the fray of battle, he felt something new growing in his chest.

Hope.

Sir Jiraiya was a legend in his own right, and as he unleashed himself upon the monsters, Kakashi could see why.He was fast, with a deep well of strength that propelled him from enemy to enemy.His spear lashed out like a scorpion’s tail

One of the monsters struck from Kakashi’s right, and he narrowly avoided a strike to the face.It was an ugly reminder they were still in the heat of battle, and the monsters seemed to rise from the earth undaunted by the new arrival. 

But they were not immortal.Lightning in hand, Kakashi cut through one, then another.It was the same, constant pressure, but he dove into it with new determination. 

And then the crowds seemed to thin and then Kakashi saw it.Riding through the early morning mist, cutting through a swathe of the monsters: reinforcements.

The Guard of Konoha was not alone.

Might Guy rode his massive black horse, a stallion he called Daytime Tiger.From his vantage point above the monsters, he struck and struck and struck, like a storm of death.His massive claymore launched heads from bodies.

Konan had not let them down.Kakashi yelled out in greeting, catching his long time rival's attention. 

Might Guy greeted him with a salute, then a teasing smirk.Barely audible over the clash of fighting, he called, "You should have ridden into battle.Keeps the muck off your face." 

"Some of us don't need so much attention,” Kakashi hollered back, striking at one more of the monsters in his path.Might Guy's laugh boomed over the battle, even as he rode away surrounded by his squadron of fighters, continuing their bloody work.Kakashi considered following, to fight side by side with a friend--but then he caught sight of a flash of pink hair. 

Sakura stood in the middle of a cluster of four of the monsters, holding each of them at bay with a spear. It was like watching a dance.She was unstoppable, cutting through one after another, rallying to meet whichever one of the creatures stepped forward. 

He could not help but stop and admire her work.In her hands, the spear was like an artifact meant for dance and art. She was light on her feet, darting from one stance to the next.She had been born for this, he thought.She moved as though the clash of battle was a song, and its rhythm set the beat for her strikes.How could he have ever overlooked her as a page?How could he have ever thought Naruto and Sasuke the better candidates for knighthood?

The last of Sakura’s foes fell before her as she delivered the blow with a flourish.With her enemy dead, Sakura met his gaze and smiled.It seemed to light up the grey, misty battlefield, a flash of radiance in the muck of war.Even spattered with blood and gore, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. 

Kakashi knew this for certain: even without magic, there would be legends about her someday.She would be at the heart of stories for the rest of her days.Someday, bards would sing of her deeds, and he would be by her side as she laughed at their exaggerations. 

So long as they both survived their part in this tale. 

"Behind you," she called out, breaking the spell. Kakashi turned to face one of the monsters at his left shoulder, readying a blow aimed directly for his neck.He countered it with a searing flash of lighting from his fist. 

He would burn out if he continued to use this kind of power—but the monsters had thinned and he could afford to be judicious.Their numbers were dying down, Kakashi could taste victory on the wind. 

And then the monsters stopped.They froze in place, like puppets whose strings had been pulled too taught.Some were frozen mid-strike, their muscles contorted to wind up for an attack that would not come.Dread filled Kakashi.Experimentally he slashed at the nearest of the creatures, testing the limits of its frozen form.But it countered the blow.The monsters yellow eyes did not look at him as it blocked the blow.Its gaze was turned north, towards the mountains. 

And this time, Kakashi's blow glanced off it's parrying flesh with a clang, as though its skin had hardened into a new, stronger carapace. As if some final transformation was now, at last, complete.

And then it spoke.

"He approaches."

The monsters spoke as one, their voices hoarse and echoing in their numbers. 

"The master approaches."

The words echoed over and over again as each of them spoke in turn.It was no war chant, filled and bravado and bluster. And yet it chilled him more than any battle cry could have.

In frustration, Kakashi drove his blade through the nearest of the monster's throat.He threw all of his strength behind it.It took too much force but finally, his blade struck true.The words died on the monster's lips as its head was at last separated from his throat.

But in that moment Kakashi realized a truth he had been avoiding.These creatures were not the real threat--not truly.He could feel the source of their power, a black malevolence approaching on the horizon.This would be their real enemy. 

And then the end began.

Like something out of a nightmare, a man rode into the battle from the North.Power radiated off of him, an ancient magic that whispered of death.Long dark hair cascaded behind him, and she was bedecked in scarlet red armor. Even without the banner of the Uchiha family that decorated his chest, Kakashi knew him by the whorl of the Sharingan in his gaze. 

Madara Uchiha.He was a revenant from Konoha's past—a myth, whispered of on dark winter nights to quell rebellion and remind naughty children of what the Realm protected them from.An ancient sin, a taboo, a promise broken. He rode on the back of an obsidian black stallion, whose eyes seemed to glow red with the power of its master’s Sharingan.The horse was a weapon in its own right, cutting through the first line of guardsmen who stepped forward, its master's sword sliding through Kakashi's men as though they were dolls. 

And at his flank, like an honor guard, rode Sasuke Uchiha and the rest of the traitorous pages of Konoha. 

Each of them joined the battle, darting in separate directions.But Kakashi kept his gaze trained on Sasuke,who rode south—south towards the gates of Konoha. 

Kakashi had made the most fatal mistake of all: he had underestimated his enemy.He had underestimated the monsters when he had imagined that he could cut them down easily in the dead of night.He had underestimated their leadership.And most unforgivably of all, he had underestimated Sasuke Uchiha. 

Kakashi had always imagined him some mawkish boy, even as a page.Brooding, certainly--but never a threat.Never more than just another youth hungry for glory and furious at the wrongs his family had faced.No different than any of them, really.The realm had always demanded too much for too little.

Kakashi had never imagined that Sasuke would damn them all to even out that ledger.

With their arrival, the hold on the monsters ended and they launched themselves into battle with a new bloodlust. 

And at last, the true battle began. 

There was no time but to do anything but react and react and react. Even with the power of his Sharingan, the monsters were faster, blazing with new energy.They cared not if they died, only that they took down as many of the Konoha fighters as possible.And in the center of it all was Madara, striking and striking and striking. 

Kakashi could not tell how may fell at his attacks.He only knew that he was fighting to survive, to block the endless onslaught.Every muscle in his body screamed to go face Madara directly, to go deal the final blow himself.But he was too far away, and there were too many of the monsters directing their attacks at him.As if they had been ordered to keep him occupied while Madara struck and struck and struck.Each person who felt the bite of the man's blade was a friend.A brother in arms.And Kakashi could do nothing but grit his teeth and try to stay alive.

But Sakura was at his back, her spear in hand.He could not see her, but he could feel the whirl of wind as she lashed out.She was faster than he thought possible, as though for all her claims that her magic was gone, she had taken something back from the underworld, something powerful. 

He might never know the truth. But he knew that with her at his back, he could focus forward.With her at his back, no one would get through.

Until his darkest wishes were answered. 

As if out of the mist, Madara appeared on his black stallion, his focus trained on Kakashi.Crimson blood flecked his face.(Whose blood, Kakashi wondered, his thoughts suddenly moving faster than his limbs.Kurenai's?Guy's?Naruto's?). He moved slowly, his horse walking through the muck, indifferent to the violence that raged on either side of him. 

It was obvious that he saw the anticipation in Kakashi’s gaze—and he smirked. 

And then he was upon them, his blade striking down, faster than Kakashi could ever block.It struck true landing in the muscle between Kakashi’s neck and shoulder.His armor took the brunt of it, but the force of it sent him buckling to his knees.Agony reverberated through his bones, and he prayed his shoulder had not been dislocated by the force.But he was slow, too slow.He could only watch in horror as his Sharingan slowed down the scene.He had burned through too much power to stop this now, and his body was on the brink of giving out.No matter how much time he had to prepare, he could not force his arm to move.

And then Sakura stepped forward, blocking the blow with her spear. 


	32. xxvi. the destiny of man

xxvi. the destiny of man

Madara’s blow came down hard enough to rattle Sakura’s teeth.She braced her stance, but her knees still bent slightly under the force of it, and her leg threatened to slip backward in the muck.

But Sakura did not fall.

She had seen Kakashi go down and she had known immediately that something was wrong.Magic was not an endless well, and his lightning could not run forever.But without it, he would be defenseless against Madara.

And every muscle in her body had screamed _no_.

Not again.

She would go to the underworld herself first.She would let Madara rip through her before she stood by and watched the light fade from his eyes once again. 

And yet her blood chilled as Madra’s gaze locked on hers.The Sharingan's hypnotic swirl was trained on her with interest.She may well go to the underworld for this.His power was an ancient, twisted magic that crackled off of him like lighting.It was ancient and furious; powered by a grudge as old as time. Perhaps Tsunade could have matched him, but the rest of them did not stand a chance.She had only felt such power twice before.Once, in a frozen cavern where she had pleaded for the power to change her fate.

And again, as she had been lead to the realm of death.

Madara moved to strike again, and this time she barely managed to parry his strike.Sakura cursed herself for being too slow, too _human_. 

Madara was a demon that had stepped out of the pages of history.He had seen dynasties come and go, from a dark pocket in the world where he had bid his time.He had outlived every one of his enemies.Sakura, Kakashi, the entire army of Kona were like ants to him.He would outlive them all unless they could find a way to stop him here and now. 

So Sakura did not flee as Madara's third blow came. She dodged backward, as his sword lashed out before her in a wide arc.But she was too slow to completely avoid it; the blow sliced her cheek just below her left eye.Had she been a millisecond slower, she would have been forced to wear an eyepatch to match Kakashi's. 

"How long will you play games, little girl," Madara said.His voice was terrible and as inhuman as the rest of it. It hurt.The sound of it was an assault on her ears, each syllable a battering strike.She had to steel herself against the force of it, driving her feet into the ground where he seemed to push her back. 

"As long as it takes," she fired back. 

She had nothing to back up her bravado, but Sakura would not back down.She would not flee--her duty did not allow it.Not to the realm, that dirty and tired thing made of dirt and war and promises.But her duty to the people of Konoha.To Naruto.

To Kakashi.

But this time when Madara attacked with his sword, her spear shattered in her hands.It broke into two pieces, just chunks of worthless wood in her hands.Helplessly she threw aside each of the pieces, fumbling for her sword.But Madara gave her no quarter.This time, he kicked her, Not even bothering to dismount from his massive black horse. 

The blow sent her flying.Sakura staggered backward, her head spinning and her ears ringing.Blood spilled from the corner of her lip. 

"Sakura!"Kakashi's voice rang across the field."Run!" 

He was too far away to save her.As soon as Madara had descended upon her, he had been besieged by the white monsters.Now, she spared him a glance over her shoulder to see him surrounded. A new enemy had descended upon him.Shikamaru and Ino, fighting in tandem. 

There was no space in this fight for the crush of feelings that rose in her, the wretched sense of betrayal at the sight of Ino and Shikamaru’s betrayal.There was no time to wonder if, in the end, her former friends had truly turned to Madara’s side.If Kakashi would strike to kill. 

And despite their attack, Kakashi's mismatched eyes were wide with panic, focused not on the two people before him but the line of monsters between them.No, he was focused on her.It was an agony to see him desperately trying to cut through the monsters in his way, with no regard for his own life.

She could not obey his orders.

She would not run. 

Madara dismounted from his horse, a grin growing across his steely features."You should listen to that, girl,” he said in that painful, withering tone."You don't stand a chance before me."

Before she could get her sword up,he struck.His fist landed across her face with another blow in a blow that made her ears ring and the iron taste of blood rise in her mouth. 

There was no urgency in his actions.No, Madara wanted to take his time.He hit her again, with a punch to the head that made her helmet ring against her skull.This was a game for him.Sakura fell to her knees, reeling and nauseous from the force of his attack.There was little hope of victory--for any of them. 

But there was something Sakura could do.One thing she could accomplish before this monster damned her, as surely as he would damn all of Konoha.

She could buy them time.

Time for the other fighters to rally, to gather in a group.No one fighter of Konoha could take down Madara, but perhaps enough of them could overwhelm him, with sheer numbers and determination.But they needed time.Time to extract themselves from their individual battles with the monsters and face down their true enemy.

Sakura spat blood in Madara's face."You'll never win," she snarled, summoning more force and conviction behind her words than she felt. 

Madara struck her again; an open-handed slap that made her teeth rattle. 

The blow knocked her head to the side, the muscles in her neck ached.Her thoughts seemed to detach herself from her body as if she had been knocked away by his latest attack.

It would be so easy for him to slice through her now.It would take nothing at all to cut through the arteries in her throat, or drive his blade through her gut.Then he could be on his way, charging through battle, rather than putting a target on their own back.How odd, all these men with power.Danzo, Sasori, Madara.The slightest hint of defiance, the barest show that she did not fear them, and these men had to prove her wrong.It was never enough to win, they had to dominate. 

And that was always their undoing. 

Madara punched her again, and Sakura sobbed at the pain.Would he kill her with his bare hands, beat her to death through her armor for all to watch?Sakura could do nothing but curl helplessly around her stomach.A final, meager, protection.Agony made her ears roar, but she could hear, in the distance, the sound of yelling.

Kakashi yelling. 

That was perhaps her greatest regret.That Kakashi would watch this.That he would be forced to stand by and witness as she sacrificed herself in battle.That he would be forced to feel what she had felt, as she had watched the light fade from his eyes.

Gods.Had she even told him she loved him?Had she even reciprocated in that barest, most meager way?

Her eyes welled with tears at the thought, as her body was wracked with strike after strike as Madara kicked her prone form.Her consciousness flickered, the edges of her vision darkening. 

And by desperate instinct, Sakura reached inside herself one final time.A hungry, futile search for the magic she had burned away to enter the underworld.

Something flared within her; a foreign power that coursed through her veins, dulling the pain and drawing her back into herself.New alertness washed over her as she dodged Madara’s next blow. It was like the magic that she had been gifted by Tsunade when Danzo had nearly killed her.But different, entirely different. 

For it was hers. 

_Oh, Sakura.You are stronger than you know._ Tsunade's words echoed in her memories. _And there are some things you cannot simply give away._

Magic had never been in her family line.It had been something she had trained, coaxed out of herself under Tsunade's unyielding mentorship.It had taken months of effort and a countless number of nights spent wracked with fear and hunger.Hunger for power.It had been something she had wished for, so desperately that she was willing to brand herself a criminal to wield it.And when it had been gone, it had felt like a part of herself had been severed. 

Sakura had been glad to pay that price.But when there had been no one to witness, when no one might know the depths of her grief, she had mourned. 

And now a new power threatened to overwhelm her.It was not the cool, gentle power of her healing magic, nor was it the protective shield that had kept her safe in her fight against Sasori. It was painful to use, like dipping into ice water, and cold. So cold. As cold as a winter's night.As cold as the stars.

It was the power of death itself. 

And with every beat of her heart, it seemed to claw towards Madara.

Sakura slammed her hands together and the force of it was like a shockwave had been unleashed.Madara was forced backward, shock painted across his face.But he did not fall. 

This was no Sasori who did his dirty work with skeletons and puppets.Madara was powerful in his own right.The legends said he had been a master swordsman, a heroic general that had snatched victory out of terrifying odds. Hashirama Senju, first king of Konoha, had stood at the front of the army, but it had been Madara’s blade that had won a kingdom.

For weeks, since her journey to the underworld, a voice of doubt had tormented Sakura.It had whispered that she was weak, that she was nothing.But now that voice was gone.There was no room for fear on this killing field.She was whole again.It felt as if she had finally come home after her long journey

And she was ready to defend that home.

Sakura drew her sword and pointed it at the ancient general.As if to say _she_ was his true enemy.As if he ought to be afraid of _her_.

Madara’s response was to smile.It was a wicked grin, a killing grin.As if there was nothing that would please him more than to face a real challenge.Sakura readied to block the coming strike, but it did not come.

For Madara had sheathed his blade.And then he bowed.Sakura’s confusion washed away into understanding It was the ancient etiquette before a duel.She had done the same before her matches with Sasuke and Sai, when there had been nothing more at stake than a title.Around them, a wall of the white monsters had gathered, as if to block any interference from their master’s sport.As if he had issued some order with his magic to keep this between the two of them alone.

Sakura scanned past the barrier, searching for a flash of silver hair, a dark cloak.And there she saw Kakashi--held back by Shikamaru and Ino.He had been forced to his knees, Shikamaru’s hand on his left shoulder.As if they would force him to watch.Their expressions were impassive as they stood aside, letting their master cut through the girl who had once trained beside them.Did they doubt?Did they falter even for a moment at Madara’s destruction?

But Kakashi was different.There was no concern for his own safety in his expression.His grey eyes were alight with watchfulness.When he caught her glance, he nodded once.As if to say that he was ready.That he waited for her signal.

And Sakura knew if she were to give it, Kakashi would throw himself into the fight in an instant.Even if the last embers of his magic burned him to death.

Sakura tilted her head in acknowledgment.In respect.In all the unspoken words between them, all the unspoken feelings. 

In goodbye. 

Then she turned to face Madara.He stood expectant before.The fight would not begin without the ancient language of etiquette: a bow between enemies, a show of mutual respect.A veneer of civility over a blood sport. 

The air was frigid in her lungs as she took a deep breath letting all else fade away.It clouded before her in a mist as she narrowed her focus on Madara.He was patient, giving her time to prepare, but there was judgment in his gaze.There would be no tolerance for cowardice. 

Sakura bowed, only taking her eyes off of Madara for an instant, to dip as low as necessary to signal the beginning of their duel. 

He was on her instantly, as quick as a summer storm. 

But this time Sakura responded in kind. 

Madara's strikes were fast--his fighting style brutal and efficient.She could feel the transformation--from a fighter who saw himself as above the fray to one facing an enemy worth fighting.His technique was an art--his guard a masterpiece.Sakura tested against it, each of her strikes parried instantly.But he moved through the same forms she had studied as page, the same arcing slashes, the same traditional footwork taught to all the knights of Konoha.It was with a level of mastery she could not hope to match, but it was familiar.Sakura realized then that he had been the creator of their shared art.

His swordplay made Sasuke Uchiha's look like a fumbling child's; their duel in the tournament a foolish game fought with sticks.If it were not so deadly, she would have been elated at the challenge. 

Without the newfound magic that buoyed her speed and her power, she would never have been able to meet him head-on.When their swords clashed, they struck with such strength that they made her forearms seemed to shake with the blow of his sword on hers.

And yet the exchange of blows continued, strike for strike, blow for blow.Sweat trickled down her jaw, cooling in the winter air.She had matched him for finesse, but Sakura knew she would never beat him in endurance.He was massive, and fresh unlike she who had spent the morning facing down his monsters.

His blows drove her backward--backward into the wall of monsters and their fetid breath and wicked, segmented jaws.Backward into the arms of creatures who could tear her to pieces without a thought.

Until Sakura's blade struck true.Madara did not get his guard up in time to stop the blow from coming down on his unprotected face.But Sakura’s triumph died as quickly as it came.For there was no wound on Madara’s face.It was as if it passed through him completely.Like he was merely a specter of the past: untouchable.

But she was not afforded the same protection.Whatever magic guarded him did not stop his blow from hitting her in the side.She could feel the metal as it bent and crushed inward.Were the steel of her plate armor even slightly less in quality, Madara’s blade would have punched through. Now it only crushed down on her lungs, making it hard to breathe. 

Sakura was forced down, barely bringing her blade up in time to block an attack aimed at her throat.

It was inevitable.A fight could not continue in stasis, and Sakura could not have matched Madara blow for blow forever.

Her knee crumbled beneath her as she misstepped, driving her to the groundHer breaths came in heaving gasps from the exertion, 

Madara, above her, loomed against the sun.As if he threatened to block out the light with his body. She could not read his expression as he looked down upon her with...pity?Disappointment? 

Fury whipped through Sakura like a summer storm.She would not be beaten yet.The power that coursed through her veins would not be wasted like this.She could not die here, not when she stood on the edge of a precipice, her future stretched out before her.Just waiting for her to seize it. Power. A destiny, endless and unknown and calling her name. 

And Kakashi. 

Wherever she went, whatever was before her, whatever she became, she knew that he would be by her side.

She could not let Madara take that future from her.

She _would_ not let him take it from her.

His blade came down, but Sakura caught it with her forearm.That cold, endless stream of magic flowed through her, morphing into a shield that extended beyond her skin and into her armor.The metal of her armor did not even bend beneath his attack.And when his sword glanced away, it gave her the opening she needed.

Sakura lunged forward, grabbing Madara by the metal edge of his breastplate.She pulled with all of her might, drawing him down to her level until their faces were only inches apart.And then she spoke.

_You have eluded death for too long._

A foreign voice passed through her lips.The shape of her words, the tenor of her words were distant and ancient. It seemed to resound in multitudes, like generations of the vengeful dead spoke through her.As if they had finally come to collect from the ancient general. 

Madara tried to pull away, tried to yank his armor from her grasp.And for the first time, she saw fear trace along his features.

"The dead have no claim on me," he said, his voice equally ancient, equally powerful.The sound of it alone was powerful enough to reverberate through her bones.But even she could hear the fear there. 

_Is there no limit to your hunger for power?You knew it would consume you someday._

Madara's eyes were wide with some instinctual recognition. He did not resist as Sakura reached up and grabbed his jaw, forcing him to look down, directly at her. But at the touch, Sakura's magic seemed to bond her to him. Images rushed through her in an endless chainIt was centuries of memories--Madara's memories.That frigid magic that had taken hold of her seemed to whisper: _look._ _Watch._ As if some interloper from the land of the dead wanted her to see this. 

And Sakura, desperate to find some logic to this carnage, obeyed.

* * *

Whatever she expected, whatever she had thought Madara might reveal to her, the story before her was completely different.For these were the memories of a man.Not the ancient, forbidding murderer, but a boy, surrounded by tragedy.And then a page, thrust into battle too soon, with a weapon in his hands and no training but an order to kill the enemy. Then grief, as family members fell to the brutal meatgrinder of war one by one, until this young, vulnerable Madara was alone.Until _he_ appeared.

Long brown hair, pulled back in a severe ponytail.A mouth curved for good-humored smiles.Eyes that were bent for laughter.He appeared again and again in Madara's memories--laughing.And it was here that Sakura felt a twist in the winding path of the tragedy that was Konoha’s history.It wasn’t until they were young men, brothers in arms, that Sakura realized who haunted the corridors of Madara's memories. 

Hashirama Senju.The first king of Konoha. The man who had brought peace to Konoha, who had turned a collection of warring tribes into a nation. 

How strange, now, to see him through Madara's eyes.To see him not as some remote historical figure, but as a man.A man who had gone through so many chapters of life at Madara's side.How strange to see him by a campfire, then at the front of an army.Then getting off his throne, weary and annoyed.

Then, lit by candlelight, wrapped in the dark secrecy of night.

But then the memories stalled, lingering in one place.The great hall of Konoha was new construction in this vision, with shining bright stained glass windows and gleaming silver fixtures.Here the flashing of memories stopped to rest as if the answers she sought were _here._

A crowd had gathered, most of the faces in it unfamiliar to Sakura.But she could feel Madara's feelings, and his lip curled in disgust at the crowd that had gathered but for one.Hashirama Senju on his throne, his brow bearing the crown of Konoha. 

"Do you know why you have been summoned?" Hashirama intoned.Hashirama's-- no, King Hashirama's voice was nothing like what she had expected.It was thinner, higher than the deep, authoritative gravel she had expected.There was a tenor of uncertainty there, the edges of emotion creeping inward.

"I haven't the faintest idea," Madara's booming voice responded.But here too was the unexpected.It was playful.Warm.As if he could never imagine that the king, his liege, would ever stand on an opposing side.As if he had no reason to ever fear a king on his throne and the sharpened blade of authority. “Last I heard you were on the border with Kirigakure, soothing the calls for war.I am flattered that you could step away from a diplomatic crisis long enough to entertain an audience with me.”

But the Hashirama of Madara's memories was not amused.He looked at Madara, looked at her, and she could read an immense sadness there.Had Madara seen it on that day?Had he felt the anticipation in the air, the sense of imminent tragedy? 

"There has been word of your experiments.Secret comings and goings.Bodies snuck in through the eastern gates in the dead of night.They say you seek power.And that you are willing to kill for it.”A gasp rose up through the crowd. 

Madara's response was to laugh but it was dry and brittle."Who cares what others say I seek.You would know the truth of it better than anyone.You, who know me better than all these shining courtiers combined.You would know better than to believe the stuff of rumors and lies" But that did nothing to quell the murmurs that spread through the crowd.Beside Hashirama’s throne, Sakura caught sight of another face from the pages of history.Tobirama Senju, the brother to Hashirma and future king of Konoha.He wore murder in his gaze, and unlike Hashirama, he glared at Madara with naked hatred.Sakura realized it for herself then, faster than Madara himself.This was no royal audience. 

It was a trial.

"I know you," Hashirama said, rising to his feet.He approached Madara, clapping him on the shoulder in a sign of camaraderie.In brotherhood. In mercy. Their faces were close--too close.That thought did not belong to Sakura, but to Madara. It was a deep welling fear, making him recoil from Hashirama’s touch. He did not want others to know the truth of their relationship.And on some level, Sakura understood that he did not want Hashirama to see the truth in his eyes.

"I know you better than I know myself.I know the demands on you by your clan, and I know what is in your heart.But it's time to let this quest for power go.It will consume you if you let it.”The intimacy in his voice made Sakura's face flush with embarrassment. But anger rose in Madara, as he felt his claims be dismissed again. 

"We could be so much more."The sharp edge of Madara's voice was obvious to all.This was the tread of an old argument.The two of them had walked it too many times until it had worn a groove in their relationship. 

But Madara was determined to give his final, greatest performance.He took a step back, putting distance between himself and his king, and extended his arms.It was an invitation for the rest of the crowd to join in, an audience, a jury.

"We could have so much more than we do,” Madra said, addressing the entire room.“We could be richer, stronger.Our territory could stretch across the entire continent.Without these petty restrictions, this distaste for what it takes to truly seize power. Let us be conquerors.We remade the world once--let us do it again and again until it is in our image in its entirety."

The speech resounded off the walls of the great hall, as the crowd fell silent.Madara’s desires did not fall on the unwilling.In the faces of the crowd, Sakura could see that there were those who considered his bargain. 

But she could see in Hashirama that he would not yield."My duty is to the realm, not to the continent.It is to our people, and it is to the vow of peace that we made when we founded this country.A promise that we would not propagate the war of our forefathers.And you have been charged, Madara, with sowing the seeds of war."

"War?" Madara snapped, stepping away from his king.“That seems a far cry from your claims that I am too power-hungry. You would elevate me further than I could imagine for myself.”

“We conducted our own investigation,” Hashirama said, nodding in the direction of his brother.“I had not wished to believe it.In resolving the crisis with Kirigakure, their spies came to me with a troubling story.That it had been you who had murdered their ambassador.”

Fury lashed through Madara.Sakura could feel in his rage that the accusations were true.That Hashirama had found what Madara had dearly sought to hide. 

“I did not believe it,” Hashirama continued.“I didn’t _want_ to believe it.How could you, the co-founder of this kingdom, you who had also lost so much, seek to destroy all we had built?And yet a king can not afford to ignore facts that he does not like.I had no choice but to put in my own investigation.”

Madara’s fist curled in on itself, his fingernails biting into the flesh of his palm.But he did not interrupt Hashirama.

“We found the body of the ambassador from Kirigakure amongst a dozen others.”A gasp rose from the audience.“It was on your account that we were pushed to the brink of war.Good men _died_ on the border because of you.And now the Kirigakure raiders are calling for vengeance to sate their blood debt.” 

“You would turn me over to some northern barbarians to soothe hurt _feelings?”_ Madara snarled.“They are nothing but a scattered bunch of tribes, not a true kingdom _._ And if we took their territory, we could be an empire.”Sakura could feel Madara’s certainty, the way he craved this future.But most of all, she was saturated with his frustration.If only he could make Hashirama _understand._

"You were like a brother to me.You were the one person I thought I could trust as we created this city and this peace.And for that, I will always owe you a debt."Hashirama replied.This time he spoke not for the crowd, but for Madara alone."But this can't continue.You have done the unforgivable--you have made me choose.

For the first time, Sakura could feel threads of uncertainty, sudden and hot, coil within Madara.And Sakura realized the bitter, ironic truth of it all.On some level, Madara had never imagined it would come to this.He had always assumed he could make Hashirama see his side of things eventually.

But when Hashirama spoke again, that illusion was shattered forever. 

"The realm comes first," Hashirama intoned, his voice suddenly deeper than before.More serious.Less human."That is what we swore when we reshaped the world.And that is a vow that I will always uphold."

Because of her connection with Madara, she could feel the yawning chasm that opened up within him, the surprising bite of pain.

"So you would sentence me to death without trial.You bring me here with allegations and conspiracies, to condemn me?I who was your greatest ally.Who was your--"The word _lover_ died on his lips.

"We are equals before the laws of this land, or we are no one."Hashirama’s returning gaze was as ice—frigid and immense in the face of a threat to his kingdom.This was a true king.This was what Naruto would never understand.Sakura understood immediately that Madara had never stood a chance.Hashirama would have chosen his duty every time.

The first king of Konoha raised his hand, signaling the approach of the guards to take Madara away to face the cold embrace of justice.But Madara, too stood firm. 

"We have agreed that there should be justice in this realm, is there not?"Madara said, not taking his gaze away from Hashirama's face."We agreed that there would be a full trial for crimes committed against your realm."The word _your_ fell between them, tipped with venom. 

"Then let it be trial by combat.And if I am innocent, let the gods decide my victory.If I am guilty of these crimes, then surely they will guide your arm, and you will strike true.The gods themselves will smile on your victory."

A long silence settled between the two men.Around them, the audience erupted in whispers.Except for one: Hashirama's brother: Tobirama.The man who would be the second king of Konoha. 

And Sakura knew then that she had seen enough.She could feel the killing intent rising in Madara, the way he readied himself to unleash all of the power that Hashirama had been so afraid of.And she knew from her lessons in history how this would play out.There would be a duel, and in the final moment, Hashirama would fumble.His weakness would unleash a torrent of magic, that had burned through him.And it would fall upon his brother to do what the king could not. 

So Sakura let go of her iron grip on Madara, and let go of the past.

* * *

The battle snapped into place immediately, once again lit with the roars of fighting.But Sakura's magic had not let go of her.That voice from beyond still echoed through her as she forced herself away from Madara. 

_You never understood what it meant to lead,_ she--it said. _And yet you fantasized over empire._ But Madara was frozen in place, his eyes wide and staring, as if the ghosts of the past had completely taken hold.As if he still relived that moment, when Hashirama had done the unthinkable, and chosen the realm over his ambitions. 

The power was not done with her.It extended throughout her whole body, filling her veins with painful, frigid ice.Her body moved of its own accord as she stood, a slave to the commands of this magic.Madara kneeled before her, not his gaze trained on his own hands.He did not raise his gaze and somehow Sakura knew that he was still trapped in these memories.Did he mourn for Hashirama, already centuries gone?Even now, no signs of human emotion crossed Madara’s face.

Sakura leaned backward, putting weight on her heels.She drew her arms back, winding up for the killing blow.Her sword heavy in her palm, and she felt the ice of her power winding through her veins and out of her palms.It infused her blade with the power of the dead. When she unleashed her swing, it was a wide perfect arc before her.

A moment passed.The space of one breath, visible in the winter air, and no longer. 

Blood poured like a waterfall from Madara’s neck, a gleaming brilliant collar before his head slid forward. 

The monsters erupted into chaos.They flooded the battlefield, all semblance of humanity gone.She had killed their master and with it, severed some thread of power that had made them close to human.There was no order, no military training as they surged toward her.But all of them trained towards her, the woman who had killed their master, their dark god.They were one massive white wave, threatening to overwhelm her.The crush of bodies, the smell of fetid rot, the sounds of their clicking joints was a sensory assault no magic could protect her from. 

The mass pressed in on her, clawed hands reaching for her face.Sakura could do nothing but try to get her blade up in time to counter their attacks.To stop the onslaught, to do anything to stop the crushing attack.Panic burned in her chest, and she choked back a scream.Her magic could protect her for now, but not forever.Some part of her lit with indignant fury.She had just slain Madara, and for what?To die in the aftermath of his grudge, buried alive in a pile of the monsters that still ran on an engine of bloodlust and fury. 

"Sakura," a high feminine voice cried, breaking through the mass of people.Then, crushing through the mass of body Ino's hand appeared.Reaching for her. 

There was no time to question, or think.Despite Ino’s changing alliances, despite her betrayal, Sakura reached back.She pushed her body against the nearest monster, driving it down with the force of her body.Ino’s hand was her only lifeline and Sakura flung herself towards it.But she was still too far away. An ocean of violence stood between them.Sakura's fingertips brushed Ino's in grasping futility, as she reached and failed.

One of the monsters threw itself against her, grabbing at her waist and threatening to pull her further away from Ino. 

But Ino was relentless.Ino, who had always been her greatest rival, her first friend, now a traitor to the realm, would not be pushed back.Sakura could barely see her face through the crush, but she could see her teeth gritted in determination.And she knew the expression Ino no doubt wore—a familiar, determined glare that promised death to all who opposed her. With a final push, Ino’s hand reached its target, around Sakura's wrist and she pulled.

Claws raked at her plate armor, pulling and yanking, trying to stop their prey from getting away.But there was no leadership or organization to it, just a mass of effort falling in on itself and doing more damage than good. 

And then she was free, pulled against Ino.Her enemy. 

But the allegiances of humans were of no concern to the monsters, for they lashed at Ino as much as they tried to carve their revenge from Sakura’s body.

The two women stood back to back, their blades the only thing holding the monsters at bay.Sakura reached inside herself, but the magic that had burned like a wildfire only seconds before had diminished to mere sparks.The power of the dead had disappeared as suddenly as it had come on.Sakura was on her own, a mortal like all the rest.

“What would you do without me,” Ino teased, flashing a smirk at Sakura over her shoulder.She seemed utterly indifferent to the tension between them.“Always getting into fights.Its a good think I’m here to watch your back.”

"Ino," Sakura said."I don't like your new friends."

Ino's laugh was sharp with irony as her sword lashed out, cutting through an approaching monster's arm."They don't seem to like us either," she said."A bit fair-weather, if you ask me."

If they survived, there would be time later for understanding why Ino had changed sides.But for now, it was enough to have Ino at her back, facing down the same enemy. 

Although their chances at survival seemed remote at the moment.For the monsters seemed to show no signs of stopping their onslaught, nor signs of tiring as human fighters might. 

"We have to regroup," Ino said."We don't stand a chance alone.We'll never last this way."

"I think we'll have to do a lot more than last," Sakura fired back.But there was no breaking the line to reach others.They were too far away, the crowd of monsters too thick.Even in death, Madara would emerge the victor. 

“Giving up so easily?” Ino snarked. 

But before Sakura could answer, the sound of war horns ripped through the air.It was a rallying cry of reinforcements.Of attack. Sakura's heart sank.They would never stand against a new onslaught, who rode to battle with fresh faces and full bellies. It would be a slaughter. 

But Ino was not daunted.She whooped in excitement as she launched against with a new fervor as if this was exactly what she had been waiting for.Sakura could only wearily raise her blade to block the next attack, silently begging her muscles to obey and praying that Ino was right.

Until the steel blade of a glaive cut through the nearest line of monsters, beheading two of them at once.And above them, appeared Temari dressed for war astride a dusk grey mare.

Words rose and died in Sakura's throat.It was impossible.Sunagakure was days away.There had been no time to send them a message, for all that Sakura had desperately wished to call for aid. No missive could have reached them in time, even on Konan's paper wings. 

"How?"Was all Sakura could muster.

"Shikamaru," Temari said."When his message arrived we rode as hard as we could.Although it seems we've arrived too late."

"You're just in time," Ino said, a grin so wide it threatened to take over her face."There's plenty of fun left to be had."

Temari snorted, driving glaive into one of the monsters as it tried to attack from her left flank."I hope this is not _all_ of Konoha's idea of fun," she said, before riding back into the fight.

Temari was not the only reinforcement.Hundreds of Sunagakure’s fighters charged through the battle, striking down the monsters.Sakura slumped against Ino’s back, as the monsters were lured into fights with newer, fresher forces.

“You knew?" she asked.

"Did you honestly think we'd side with Sasuke?Shikamaru had a plan from the beginning.As soon as he saw the way our supply lines were blockaded, he convinced Sasuke that he was on his side.Once we were out of the walls and past their blockade, he wrote to Sunagakure and Temari, calling on them to uphold their end of our alliance.After all, I seem to recall you rescued their king.It's only natural they return the favor."

"I did do that, didn't I," Sakura murmured to herself, swept up in a memory of a fight in the desert, a darkened mountain cave.All of it seemed like a lifetime ago. 

* * *

The battle ended shortly after that.Once the Sunagakure forces swept through, the monsters were no match for the Sunagakure fighters.Ino had spoken true; Shikamaru had given them detailed estimations of the number they would face and their tactics.They had come prepared, with enough forces to overwhelm the monsters.

Sakura stumbled to the edge of the battlefield, her body exhausted.The adrenaline had worn off the instant she had realized she was safe, and her magic was nothing more than embers.It was not gone, but dormant.Waiting for the moment she decided to pick it up again and coax it into a wildfire. 

If she dared.She shivered at the thought of channeling that dark magic again. 

But that was a puzzle for another day.Now, she was too spent to consider more than her need for rest and food.Some old instinct begged her to tend to the wounded, to pick through the aftermath of the battle and soothe the cries of the wounded.But Sakura was too spent.She collapsed onto the stump of a tree, letting the Sunagakure fighters and medics from behind the town walls care for the injured

It was there that Kakashi found her, her helmet in her hands.The sight of him was a wonder: unharmed and alive, and grinning with triumph.But that was nothing to the flask he offered her and the cool taste of water on her lips. 

"I thought I'd lost you," he said, tenderly placing a hand on her shoulder.She thought he would draw her into an embrace, but then he was unbuckling her armor.Gratitude filled her—the thought of sorting through the complicated arrangement of buckles and straps was more than she could bear.But it quickly faded into a tinge of sadness at the sight of her breastplate in his hands.Tsunade's gift was dented and worn.But it had done its job: it had kept her alive.

"I think you're stuck with me," Sakura said, hissing as the air caressed the raw skin of her side.Madara had done more damage than she had realized."I'm too stubborn to die."

"Or too lucky," he said. He brought his fingers to her chin, tilting her face up to look at him.It felt so comforting to lean against him, to let him cup her face in his hands.She smiled, hoping to lure him down for a stolen kiss. But his face grew serious, and his mismatched eyes were locked on hers. 

"Don't ever scare me like that again," he said. 

"I don't try to,” Sakura said."But people keep picking fights with _me_.” 

Kakashi's response was a weary, masculine chuckle.The sound of it reverberated within her, filling her with warmth.She wanted to linger in this moment forever.But there were words unspoken between them.

“There’s something I have to say,” she began, steeling her courage.“I know I'm saying this too late, but I can’t bear the thought of it letting go unsaid any longer.I-“

"Kakashi," the sound of Sir Guy's booming tone cut her off.She swore internally at the interruption, as Kakashi's lips formed a wry, tired smirk."We have a captive."

At that, both Sakura and Kakashi turned their heads to face Sir Guy.He arrived surrounded by a dozen fighters, their formation a circle around their prisoner.Beside him stood Naruto, still dressed in armor. His face was spattered with blood, but otherwise, he looked unharmed.But his anguish was written across his face. 

Sakura knew the prisoner's identity before they could step aside. 

Sasuke Uchiha had been captured.In an attempt at makeshift shackles, a spear rested on his shoulders behind his head.His wrists were tied to the wood, immobilizing him.But that did not stop Sakura's rich sense of unease at the sight.This was not a defeated man.There was no fear in Sasuke’s gaze, nor resignation.No trace of regret. 

Only a growing impatience. 

But Kakashi seemed to sense none of it.He stepped away from Sakura, placing her battered breastplate beside where she sat.“Take him back to the castle to face the crown’s justice,” Kakashi ordered.“He can stand trial once this is settled.”

_And face execution._

Kakashi did not say the words, but there was no other fate for traitors.Sasuke had proven himself too dangerous to be allowed to roam free.And unlike Ino or Shikamaru or the others, his disloyalty had not been a ruse.There would be no excusing this.

Sakura met Naruto's gaze, expecting some kind of rebellion.But Naruto looked down at the ground, utterly dejected.Even he understood the gravity of Sasuke's crimes.

"If that is what _you_ command,"Sasuke replied, unbothered by Kakashi's orders."I shouldn't be surprised that you're the one giving out orders."Something in his vision hardened, and Sakura could feel the magic that suddenly crackled through him.Sakura cursed, crying out a warning too late as Sasuke snapped the spear that held him prisoner. 

Before anyone could stop him, he was free.Sasuke gripped the sharpened half of the broken spear before him and charged for Kakakashi.

Sakura was too slow, and Kakashi was unarmed.She could not block this attack, and Kakashi had no way of defending himself.She could only watch in horror, seeing Sasuke’s ploy play out before her.He had let himself be captured, ignoring the chance to strike at Naruto, all to gain access to Kakashi.And now, it seemed, their battle would be for nothing.

Until Naruto stepped forward, the Forest Flame already in his hands.He lunged for Sasuke, driving him to the ground before he could get to Kakashi.The shout died in Sakura's throat.They struggled, as Naruto sought to pin Sasuke to the ground and Sasuke tried desperately to drive his spear through Naruto’s throat. 

She could feel the magic growing in Sasuke, the threat that had not been dampened even as his army had fallen and his master was slain.But Naruto was not defenseless.Power radiated off of him, as if it rose to match Sasuke’s. 

Kakashi moved as if to intervene, but they were too fast, lunging to their feet. Sasuke spoke, his voice a snarl.“If you want justice, claim it yourself, _King_ Naruto." 

He gave Naruto no chance to respond before he was fleeing, deep into the forests of Konoha.Naruto was after him immediately, crashing through the underbrush in pursuit.They were gone too quickly to stop. Silence settled on their edge of the battlefield as the sounds of their mad chase disappeared into the distance. 

"Well, fuck," Kakashi said. 


	33. xxvii. the final wickedness of a wicked species

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The only thing left after this chapter is the epilogue!!! I have so many feelings, coming to the end of this....(although maybe half of those feelings are that I want to write an Ino spinoff). I will save a more dramatic note for the final chapter, but I! Have! So! Many! Feelings!!! And so much gratitude for all your comments. Thank you so so much for reading!

xxvii. the final wickedness of a wicked species

Sasuke's lungs heaved for air as he tore through the forests of Konoha.The battle had claimed more from him than he had expected, hours and hours of tearing through combat, cutting down enemies.He had taken injury, from faces he didn’t recognize, who seemed to care little that they fought against a fellow human.

So long as they saw him as an enemy.

And now that destiny was complete.It had seemed impossible that Madara, ancient, invincible, might fall.That Sakura Haruno, who had come from nothing, would be the one to tear through his ancestor and end the promise of a new world with one cut of her sword. 

It was unthinkable.And he had reacted, in the best way he knew how. 

And yet, Sasuke cursed himself as he ran.Some cool, strategic part of himself wondered: _what was he doing?There was no gain in luring Naruto to his death._

It was different, far different, to strike out at Kakashi, the leader of Konoha's armies.The battle was long lost, but it would not have been without some small victory.A chance to claim some small vengeance of the Uchiha clan before he was executed and the line was ended forever. 

But Sasuke had never imagined that Naruto would throw himself between them to stop Sasuke.

No.That wasn’t true. 

It was exactly the kind of thing Naruto would have done.It was the instinct that had made the Forest Flame choose Naruto as the next king of Konoha, passing over a score of people more qualified, more knowledgeable. This fetish for self-sacrifice propelled Naruto into danger no matter whose life was at stake.

It was the same instinct that propelled Naruto to chase after Sasuke.

 _But what would he do now, exploiting that tendency_ , that same cool voice asked. _What did he hope to gain from this final battle?_

Victory.Vengeance.Naruto's death.It would be a fitting end for the king.But that was a thin list of reasons. They had little to do with the true motive that drove him forward, that called on nearly tapped reserves of energy.

A universe where Naruto lived on after Sasuke had been executed, was intolerable. A universe where their tie that connected their destinies was shorn.A universe where Naruto sired heirs, his legacy cemented, without a single thought for his rival.

Whatever cooler thoughts might have held sway over Sasuke were dead at that argument. 

Sasuke reached the edge of the Naka River; the perfect setting for his final stand.He stopped, sliding in a spray of river stones and snow.The river had frozen over in the depths of winter, turning the normally raging waters into a gleaming mirror. 

"Sasuke," Naruto called, crashing through the underbrush."Wait!"

What was there to wait for, but battle?Sasuke drew his blade, turning to face his opponent.In their arrogance, the knights of Konoha had not bothered to disarm Sasuke.They had thought him beaten, and left him the sword at his hip. The fools.

Naruto responded in kind, already taking a fighting posture.There would be no bows, no etiquette.Such petty adherence to etiquette had won Madara no victory.And so he would not be so foolish.This was no exhibition match.It was a blood sport, as desperate and serious as any war. 

It was the period at the end of their shared destiny.The final line of their shared prophecy.

(Never say Sasuke Uchiha did not learn from his mentors.Orochimaru.Madara.He had learned their lessons well.He had learned to leave no work unfinished)

It would always have come to this.No matter if it had been Madara’s plan and worked, and he had breached the gates of Konoha, the returning conqueror.It would always be Naruto and Sasuke, facing each other down at the end of the world.

Sasuke's attacks were brutal and short, testing the limits of Naruto’s guard.He had taken an arrow to the shoulder, but it did not stop him from lunging forward and forward and forward, driving against the boy-king.But Naruto met every strike, blocking and pivoting, turning Sasuke’s assault against him.It was not a matter of his guard—Naruto had never been a defensive fighter. 

He matched him with the force of an avalanche, each strike a chance at a brutal, demanding assault.Sasuke had always thought you could only understand a man after you had faced him on the battlefield.There was no hiding behind artifice in guile, only a brutal need to survive.

Naruto fought like a starving man.He fought with hunger, ambition, and a wild reckless want.His strikes did not seem to repel Sasuke, but to bring him closer.Every muscle in his body was thrown into them, every step forward seemed to promise a brawl; fist on fist, skin on skin.

And Sasuke’s body responded in kind, every nerve documenting that closeness, every muscle navigating the feel of him. 

And perhaps Naruto understood that.

The thought made his mouth taste of blood.His heart pounded in his chest, his breath drove in breathy little pants.

And worst of all was the desire that welled within him, in an aching demand for a different kind of closeness.

"What's the matter, King Naruto," Sasuke mocked, desperate to change the tenor of their confrontation."No speeches today?Am I too lost a cause for even you?

“You don’t have to be,” Naruto protested, rising to the bait.“If you come back and face justice if you stand trial and make your case-"

"You think Kakashi would let a traitor like me walk free?"Sasuke laughed as he bounced backward, summoning a lash of flame to assault Naruto with.The king barely summoned a tranche of wind to block the burning whip."Or do you think he would let me go on pity?Is that what you think I am?Pitiful?"

“You really are an idiot,” Naruto snarled as he lunged forward with another attack.Sasuke scrambled to get his sword up in time, but his muscles protested.The injuries of the battle were finally catching up to him.

His blade came up in time to guard his face, but it was not a fast enough parry.Naruto brought them hilt to hilt.Sasuke was close enough to see every fleck of blue in Naruto’s blue eyes, the way his cheeks were flushed with exertion. 

Then Naruto forced his sword down, twisting Sasuke’s shoulder at an angle that forced a grunt of pain from his lips.Worse, his fingers opened, sending the blade flying from his fingers until it landed far behind him, on the ice of the river.

“Go and get it,” Naruto snarled."I won't face you unarmed."

But Sasuke had other ideas.He had learned new tricks since he had departed from Konoha’s laws, and he was done fighting like someone who did not understand the true nature of power.

"Let us face each other like men," he said, summoning the magic he had trained under Orochimaru.It was not the illusions of the Sharingan, but fire.Destructive and secret, passed down from father to son in the Uchiha manor.It had been the last thing his father had taught him before the slaughter.Before their sacrifice.But what his father had never dreamed of was total mastery over the flames. 

Sasuke shaped the tongues of flame into a blade, tempering it in his palms until it became smooth and solid--but still hot to the touch.Hot enough to burn.Hot enough to singe his enemies with every strike. 

He stepped forward, nimble on his feet like a dancer, testing Naruto's guard.The magic of the Forest Flame was equally powerful, crackling with energy each time it struck Sasuke's sword of flame.Sparks fired off the metal of Naruto’s sword every time their blows met, scattering off their battle in tiny streaks of light to land in the snow, leaving circles of melt in their wake.

But Sasuke was not the only one who had mastered new power in the last four years.Naruto matched him, magic for magic.He held the forest flame in one hand, using his open hand to summon a fistful of wind. 

“Come back to Konoha with me!” Naruto shouted, launching himself for Sasuke, grabbing him by the collar of his armor.They were close now, their faces nearly touching.“Face trial.”

Unbidden, memories of their kiss burned through Sasuke’s memories.His cheeks hot with rage, Sasuke pushed his knee up, ramming it into Naruto's stomach.He flipped, sending Naruto falling over his head, to land on his back on the seashore.

Sasuke was on him, his sword pointed at his throat.

"You still don't understand," Sasuke said, "And that is why you'll never be one of the famous kings of Konoha's history.It's why you'll never be anything more than a punchline."Sasuke could see immediately that the insult had struck true, as temper rose in Naruto’s eyes.He summoned another fistful of the wind, launched for Sasuke’s face.

The blow struck true, driving against Sasuke's jaw with a force that made him see stars and taste blood.It was salty and panful and some part of him whispered that it was everything he deserved.Punishment.Agony,Naruto was right to hate him, right to think of him as his enemy.He deserved this.

He deserved pain.

But this blow would not be his end, and Sasuke would not give Naruto an easy victory.Sasuke rolled, the force and the sudden movement making his head spin. There was a chance yet for him to win his crown, and there was a chance still for his revenge. Oh, how there was a chance.Oh how he would drag them both down to their grave.He would let death claim them both, burning through his magic to get his chance at evening the score and undoing the carnage that the throne of Konoha had wracked upon his family. 

“You wouldn’t have to face execution,” Naruto pleaded.“There could be mercy.”

But as his words, the edge of the Forest Flame flickered with magic, magic that threatened to burn Naruto himself.As if the sword itself rejected the idea of clemency. 

Naruto reacted, flinching against the burn and opening himself up to attack.The way forward was clear—he could drive the blade into Naruto’s unguarded throat.But when Sasuke moved forward to take advantage, something in his muscles recoiled.He could not bring himself to strike the killing bow. 

The attack was too slow, and Naruto recovered in time to block with a curtain of sparks. 

But with his recovery, it was Naruto driving the thrust of the battle.Naruto who forced him backward, stepping onto the mirrored surface of the frozen river. 

“Konoha didn't care for either of us," Naruto said with each blow, forcing Sasuke backward, deeper onto the ice. "We were both alone--but you never could understand that, could you?You could never see that it didn't have to be you: always alone.Always so misunderstood.We were the same, you and I."

"And now you grovel for them,” Sasuke snarled.“Were you so desperate to make Konoha accept you that you would let them own you?" He threw himself backward, dodging the next strike."Will you bring me back to them like a prize hunting dog?Will you carry me back in your mouth, just another piece of prey? Will your tail wag when they pat you on the head?"

"You idiot," Naruto fired back.His fighting style was sloppy as he carried his sword in one hand, his other free and grasping."You don't even know why I'm here do you?"His free hand fired forward to swing at Sasuke in a futile punch, but at the final moment, Sasuke moved his head. Naruto lost his balance, stumbling forward.

"Tell me then," Sasuke hissed.He grabbed Naruto by the arm, taking advantage of his lost balance, and pulled him close."Tell me why you insist on following me into hell."They were close enough that Sasuke could feel the heat from Naruto's heaving breaths. 

"Because I'm the only person who understands you," he said, his voice uncharacteristically quiet."And you're the only one who could ever understand me.Because I don't want a kingdom or cheering crowds.I never did."

"What do you want," Sasuke said, every muscle in his body utterly still.They were close enough that Sasuke could count every single one of his blonde lashes, could see every dark fleck in his azure blue eyes. 

The next word came like a blow to the face.

"You," Naruto whispered."It's meaningless without you."

With a snarl Sasuke let go of him, pushing him down across the ice. The words echoed in his brain over and over again, twisting in his chest as he tried to understand them.But Sasuke found that no matter how he tried, he could not.Some combination of the syllables, the strained pronunciation of Naruto's voice, defied comprehension.

Naruto could not know the price of what he asked.There was no way Naruto could understand the way that his words had lit a fire in Sasuke's chest.

Naruto made such claims of understanding, but there was no way he could make good on that promise.He had no capacity to understand the politics of Sasuke's desire.The complicated bargains he had made within himself, the negotiations.The way he craved the feel of Naruto's skin on his--even if it came in a fist.

"You don't know what you ask for," Sasuke said, his voice a jagged rasp.But Naruto did not rise to his feet.He did not seem to care that Sasuke could kill him now, with one languid stroke of his sword.Instead he looked up at Sasuke with his wide blue eyes, as if waiting for an answer.As if Sasuke could give him what he sought.

The Forest Flame remained useless in his hand, forced down against the ice of the Naka River.It seemed to flicker and spark as if it resented the activity.As if it would fight back if only its master would gather the courage. 

But Naruto had surrendered.

Sasuke did not want surrender.He wanted _victory._ He wanted neat, clear answers.Or else Naruto would forever be an open question, and opponent he could not beat.A story unfinished. 

He should kill him.He should bring his sword down and slide Naruto’s head from his neck as cleanly as Sakura had done to Madara.

But he faltered where Sakura had not.His sword turned to sparks, then extinguished in his hands.He could not bring it down to make the final cut.Not while Naruto looked up at him with wide, pleading eyes.

Determined to make him rise, to make him _fight,_ Sasuke kicked him.The blow came from the left, sending Naruto’s gaze snapping to the side, forcing him to break that desperate eye contact.There was no resistance as if Naruto had not bothered to brace for the blow.Nor did he brace for Sasuke’s punch, or the next.

Or the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, tenth, thousandth blow.He did not brace for a single strike as Sasuke pummeled him.As he grabbed Naruto by the collar and shook him, dragging him to his feet, bringing their faces near to touch. 

There was a bruise forming around his left eye, brilliant and purple, and blood trickled from the corner of his lips."Are you satisfied yet," Naruto asked, his lips cracked and struggling to form the words. 

The Forest Flame was still in his hand, but Sasuke could feel something in its magic recoil.

"You're weak. Even your sword thinks so--can't you feel it? Can't you feel the way it's growing weak? You're no king. You're just a foolish, lost child."

Naruto's only response was a smile. Disgusted Sasuke threw him to the ground.

"Don't you see," Naruto said. "I don't care about that. I don't care about any of that."

"What do you want from me, then?!" The words were an uncontrolled roar, an instinctual demand. And with it, Sasuke leaned forward as if to finally throw himself on Naruto and end this fight.

“You’re so stupid,” Naruto said.

"Stand and fight me, idiot," Sasuke snarled. 

“No,” Naruto said.

There was no weakness in his declaration.

Tension simmered in the air as Sasuke weighed his choices.In his wildest imaginings, this I not how their confrontation was meant to go.

But the sword chose first.

Konoha was a warrior's nation with a warrior king.The first King of Konoha, Hashirama Senju's soul had infused the blade when his magic had rejected him, as he had faltered in his duel against Madara. 

Few spoke of the day King Minato had died, and when they did, it was in whispers punctuated by furtive glances.But Orochimaru had no such fear.He had spoken often of how the magic had taken over Minato, of how it had burned through him, turning him into nothing more than a charred skeleton.Of how when he had stood to defend his home against a monster of Orochimaru's creation, he had faltered.Was it fear for his wife?For his newborn son?No one knew what had changed in the young king, what had made the sword reject him.

But reject him it had.

And now, as if furious to see its new owner fall prey to some new weakness, the sword recoiled.

A crack of noise that rang through the air.Then a flash of white light that burned Sasuke's eyes.The magic in the blade sizzled and popped, like fat rending on a cast-iron skillet. 

It was rejecting Naruto. 

He had failed some test of kingship, broken some ancient covenant that bonded him with the blade. And now it would destroy him. The magic seemed to pull at his flesh, its magic as dark as anything Madara had wielded.

Sasuke’s body reacted before his mind could understand.He leaped for Naruto, grabbing at his arms, his fingers working at Naruto's hands.Anything to make him release the sword, to free him from its grasp before it could turn him into yet another of the anonymous dead that littered Sasuke’s past. 

The heat of the magic licked up Sasuke's arms, threatening to draw him into its ravenous grasp.It cared not for who made up the kindling, only that it claimed blood. 

"You'll burn too," Naruto said, trying to push him away.But still, Sasuke held on.Still, he clutched at Naruto's hands, until he was falling, falling to his knees trying to drag the blade out of his hands. “Let me go!”

“Never.” 

The protestation was out before he could stop it.And then a torrent of words tumbled from his lips. 

“It was you, you idiot," Sasuke said."It was always you.The only thing to measure myself against, the only person who understood what it was to be alone.And yet you outmatched me, at every turn.You were the only person worth anything in that mud pit.The only rival I could ever imagine.The only person I would have at my back in a fight.”

He was shouting now, the volume of his voice rising with every word, as it warred against the roar of the magic in his ears. 

"How could I walk alone after this, knowing that in the end, you had forever outmatched me?That in the end, you had won?I won't let this thing take you from me, not here.Not when you still stand ahead of me and refuse to finish this thing between us.” 

The heat of the magic burned into the skin of his palms.He gritted his teeth, squinting his eyes the tears that welled in his eyes at the agony of it all. 

"If anything is going to kill you, it will be me!"

With the final syllable, Sasuke pulled the sword against his body.He fell backward, throwing himself against the ice.The sword was in his arms, clutched against his body, its flames licking at his clothes.The magic was not done taking.Sasuke couldn't hold it--he had no choice but to drive it down before him. 

Directly into the ice of the frozen river.

The roaring heat of the magic stopped.And for a moment, there was silence, only interrupted by the sound of Naruto and Sasuke, both heaving for air. 

Until cracks cut across the mirrored surface, ominous black jagged lines stretching out in disjointed pathways. 

Naruto reacted first, jumping backward toward the riverbed.Sasuke was slower, his muscles still burning with the final echoes of the sword's magic. 

The Naka River was the country’s greatest river, flowing to the ocean, and the source of Konoha's water. It was from the Naka River that fishermen hauled in massive catches of salmon in the summers. In places, it was calm enough for swimming lessons and children's games. But in other places, it roared with power, churning watermills and shattering the silence of the forest with its white water. It was a power that even no ice could truly stop. The waters still raced beneath the surface of a frozen mirror.

And now it awoke once more, roaring to life beneath the shattered ice.The piece of ice Sasuke stood on broke off from the mass, sending him lurching to one side.It spun, and Sasuke threw himself to the side of it, trying to steer it toward the riverbank, toward Naruto.

It carved a path forward, bashing into the sheets of ice, triggering a thousand more breaks in the ice, and releasing dozens of pieces onto their own collision courses.

As the chunk of ice hit the next sheet, Sasuke jumped.He landed with a roll, sliding onto a piece that had managed to stay attached to the river bank. But at the sudden impact of Sasuke's body, it too broke off.He had no choice but to jump and jump again, leaping from piece of ice to piece of ice.

Until he slipped, sliding along a piece that was already too smooth.He barely managed to hang on as the river water lapped against the edges of his piece of ice, brushing against his fingers and leaving them numb with chill.

The ice was breaking around him, sending him floating further and further away from shore, away from Naruto.The current of the river picked up speed, taking him further and further down the rapids.A chunk of ice collided with Sasuke's. There was a sickening crack as the ice cracked down the middle beneath his hands.

Then split.

He had to act fast, to pick a piece to hold on to. But as Sasuke shifted his weight, he moved too quickly.

Before he could even process his mistake, Sasuke plunged into the dark grey water of the Naka River. The cold was so immense that it extinguished every sensation in his body. The air was forced out of his lungs at once. It felt like hands pulled him down, as he was submerged beneath the waters.His armor dragged him down, heavy and immovable against his exhausted body.

His lungs begged for air, and his limbs struggled to break the surface, indifferent to the way he strained to catch one last glimpse of Naruto. But Naruto was nowhere to be seen.He had disappeared completely--or Sasuke had simply been swept away too quickly.

 _Let the current take you_. The thought came suddenly, as the water's surface closed over his head one more time. He tried to struggle up, but his armor was too heavy. The metal of it pulled him down towards the stony bottom of the river, holding him below the water as it threatened to fill his lungs.

It would be a fitting end for the Uchiha Clan and a fitting justice for Sasuke. Not executions, no trials. A simple drowning. Utterly without dignity, without any historical gravitas.

The only witness would be Naruto, who could tell them all of how Sasuke had fought before his hubris had sent him falling into a river never to be seen again. Unconsciousness flickered in his vision as his lungs could no longer last without air.

Until something grabbed the back of Sasuke's breastplate, pulling him up and out of the water. On reflex, Sasuke took a massive gasp of air, letting it fill his lungs, forcing himself to live.

"Idiot!" Naruto yelled, dragging him onto a massive flat stone. "You could have died!"

Sasuke collapsed against the stone, shivering against the rock. Naruto continued to pull, dragging him up until his entire body was out of the water. He coughed, his mouth filling with the brackish taste of water. The sounds of the ice crashing against one another and Naruto’s heavy breathing from the exertion were the only sounds that filled the forest.

But he was alive, curiously and miraculously alive.

"Why did you save me," he asked, heaving as he fought against the water in his lungs. "You could have left me to die."

 _You_ should _have left me to die._

"I told you already," Naruto said. He punched Sasuke for effect, his blow weakling glancing off Sasuke's shoulder. "The crown, the kingdom. It doesn't mean anything without you."

The sword was gone, and with it, Naruto's mandate as king.He was just a man now, with no duty but survival and no destiny but his own choice.He was free to shape his own future, to take whatever he desired. 

And he had chosen Sasuke.

Sasuke Uchiha could not untangle the emotions in his chest.It was a knot so tightly wound that to tug on any single emotion was to make it more complicated, more impossible.His desire to fight, to destroy this assault of emotions, to destroy the source of it, was overwhelming. But even more intoxicating was the closeness of Naruto.The warmth of him, the smell of him: sweat and smoke and battle.Some part of Sasuke would always feel the ache of the score unsettled between them.But in saving his life, Naruto had staked some claim on him.

At the thought, a forbidden thrill coursed through Sasuke.

As he considered all of the desires he had denied himself.All the hunger left ignored and unspoken.

Naruto did not know what he had claimed.

Naruto was unbuckling his armor, so close.Close enough that Sasuke could feel the warmth of his body, a warmth he felt himself reach for.His eyes traced the curve of his adam’s apple as Naruto leaned close to unbuckled the straps of Sasuke's pauldrons.So close that if he lifted his hand he could have run it along the length of Naruto's jaw. 

But Naruto was undeterred by his silence and carried on with his lectures

"But you are the idiot," he said "I should fight you again just for trying to kill yourself with the sword." 

And then Naruto kissed him.It knocked the breath out of Sasuke’s lungs, as forcefully as any river.The kiss was deep and ravenous, and Sasuke nipped at Naruto’s lips, as Naruto’s tongue fought for entry. 

When Naruto finally came up, they were both panting.“I’m not the king anymore," he said."I don't have to remain in Konoha."

Sasuke's heart raced too fast in his chest, and it felt as if every drop of blood had flushed to his face.The future Naruto hinted at was vast and more than he had let himself imagine.Some yawning pit opened up within him--ravenous with desire. He wanted it, so badly.More than he could ever name.All of it.Naruto’s touch, his taste, the feel of his skin on Sasuke’s.And a future. Adventures, the kind they had spoken of as pages; before vengeance had made Sasuke’s blood sick and war had come between them.Sasuke pulled Naruto back down to him, drawing him in for another kiss if only to slake the clawing grasp of it. 

A polite cough cut through the air. 

Sasuke tried to spring apart, but Naruto held him down.His touch was territorial and decisive, a declaration that he did not care who found them like this. 

"This isn't quite what I expected to find" Kakashi's droll voice cut through the air. 

Sasuke tilted his head back to see Kakashi and Sakura, the belated search party, arrive.Sakura's eyebrows were raised, and there was a growing smirk on her face.Still hidden by his mask, Kakashi's was not so easily read.And yet, despite the concealment, Sasuke sensed Kakashi was not nearly so amused.

"I'm not coming back with you."The words tumbled from Naruto’s lips without finesse, without thought. Sakura's eyebrows shot up in response, while Kakashi knitted his brows together in frustration. 

"You're the king," he said.As if that was the first problem to be solved. 

"Not anymore," Naruto said."The sword rejected me.It's gone. The river took it."

Possessive bile rose in Sasuke at the inscrutable way Kakashi examined the scene as if he weighed some judgment about their entwined fates.As if, in the end, he was the final arbiter of their future.Naruto's hand gripped Sasuke's shoulder, digging into the meat at the curve of his neck. He too seemed to sense Kakashi's thoughts and already prepared resistance.

Until Sakura rested her hand on Kakashi’s bicep and gave him a _look_.

Sasuke could not help but wonder at that look. The look they shared spoke volumes of intimacy and shared understanding.It was silent until finally, some unspoken agreement seemed to be met.Kakashi shook his head as if there had been some secret argument between them and he had lost.

"You'll have to move fast," he said."There are other search parties looking for you as we speak.You're lucky it was us that found you.Others might have more of a score to settle with Sasuke." 

Sasuke shouldn't have felt relief.He should have been ready to fight, not hoped for some blessing.But in the end, in this snowy forest, it was just the four of them.As it had been all those years ago when Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura had been nothing but pages.

The world had changed, thrice over.Sakura had become a sorceress and a knight, brimming with a power that Sasuke did not understand.Kakashi had gone from the reluctant mentor to an advisor to a king, to...something different entirely.Naruto had become a king and then lost it, throwing it all away.

And Sasuke had...become a monster.He had become something vicious and violent and hungry. 

And somehow, despite it all, nothing had changed.Naruto and Sasuke’s destinies were still inextricably linked, by coincidence or fate or something stronger,messy and brimming with desire.

By choice.

Naruto stepped forward to clasp Kakashi's hand in goodbye.In understanding.

Kakashi did not seem to resent his former liege as he returned the gesture.He put a hand on Naruto's shoulder and said, "it will be messy if you come back too soon."There was a warning in the tone and in that moment, understanding dawned in Sasuke.He wondered if Sakura realized the role she would eventually play if their relationship continued down this path.

"Keep him out of trouble," their old mentor continued, jerking a head towards Sasuke. Sasuke did not have a response to that.There was nothing to deny.Sasuke himself did not understand why Naruto had suffered him to live.Why he had forgiven his treason, his war.

Kakashi did not wait for an answer.He turned his gaze on Sasuke next.There was no forgiveness in Kakashi's gaze, but there was no anger there either.Neither of them knew the words to speak.They were still enemies, of that Sasuke had no doubt.And he knew, without asking, that if he were to step foot in Konoha again, his death would be painful but swift.

So it seemed to surprise all four of them when Sasuke spoke first. 

"Don't let her push you around too much," Sasuke said.He didn't need to tilt his head towards Sakura, they both knew what he meant.At that Kakashi let out a bark of a laugh, and Sakura's brow knitted into an exasperated glare.But none of it matched the look of shock in Naruto's wide blue eyes, as first confusion and then a horrified understanding crossed his features. 

And like that, the tension seemed gone.There was no need for more goodbyes or fraught lies that they would miss one another.Their paths had converged and now separated.It would be worse to fill the air with wistful promises to meet again.Kakashi simply left, taking Sakura with him. 

Leaving Naruto and Sasuke to their fates. 

* * *

Naruto insisted that he did not care what happened to Konoha.He swore that he did not need to know who took stewardship of his kingdom, and on some level, Sasuke believed him. 

But Sasuke had his own curiosity to slake. He silenced Naruto's objections as they watched from the shadows, waiting to see what tale Kakashi would spin of Naruto's fate. 

In the end, the story Kakashi told was brilliant. The king and his mortal enemy had disappeared, the ice of the river was shattered.It was a tale that told itself, clean, and efficient.The only messy detail left was the truth—the loss of the sword.There was now a power vacuum to fill.With the traditions of Konoha were gone, there was no process in place for selecting the new king.

What Sasuke did not expect was Kakashi's final proposition.A choice.The people would choose who lead the kingdom next. 

But in the end, it seemed that Sasuke understood Konoha better than Kakashi did.For Kakashi seemed taken aback as Sir Guy spoke first.

"There is no need to deliberate."The words boomed across the destruction of the battlefield.Then, as if rehearsed, the first line kneeled before Kakashi, followed by the next, and then the next.Then, even Sakura kneeled before him, a private smile playing across her face.He wondered if she would look as pleased when Kakashi asked her to be his queen, and all the responsibilities of the role fell on her shoulders. 

"Long live the king."The words were murmured, shouted, spoken.But there was no disagreement, no resentment, no confusion.The fighters of Konoha knew who had lead them to victory, and they knew who would best serve as steward of the realm.

"Satisfied?" Naruto asked, tugging at his arm.

When Sasuke turned, meeting Naruto's eyes, warmth flooded his chest.And Sasuke found that he was satisfied.It was a new, uncomfortable emotion.

But for the first time, Sasuke let himself enjoy it.

“This is why you weren’t a very good king.No interest in politics,” he said, the words without aggression or malice.And Naruto rolled his eyes, punching Sasuke in the shoulder before physically pulling him away. 

For a moment, it felt like it had been when they were pages, and the world had seemed to stretch before them filled with promise and adventure.

And in its own way, it still did.


	34. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys, from the absolute bottom of my heart, for all of your comments and for reading!!! 2020 was uhhhhhhh a wretched year, but working on this was one of the biggest highlights. Honestly, reading your guys' comments was sometimes the brightest spot of my day in lockdown. Thank you again so much for all your comments and for coming along on this extremely self-indulgent AU with me. I hope 2021 brings us all better things than 2020 has dished out. 
> 
> (And maybe I'll be back next year with an Ino spin-off....)

Epilogue

"Do you think the sword is gone forever?” Sakura asked, kicking a stray leaf with her foot.She looked up at Kakashi beside her.Although the days were growing longer, and slowly, so slowly, and the snow melted to give way to spring, he still wore a dark, heavy coat to ward away the chill. 

He always had been weak to the cold.

"I don't know," Kakashi said."I think, if we need it, we'll find it." 

The Forest Flame had utterly disappeared.They had hunted for it for months now, conducting their search along the river.Part of Sakura hoped they never found it.But worse was the alternative. If the wrong person found the sword and claimed its power for their own it could drive another schism right through Konoha.

“Would it be so bad, to leave it at the bottom of a river somewhere," Kakashi asked, thinking out loud."Perhaps it would be better for all of us to choose our own destiny.To let the people decide forever.”

It had been three months since Naruto had "disappeared", Sasuke in tow. Neither had written, and Sakura and Kakashi had no idea of their whereabouts.But Naruto had never written, not when he had first left under Sir Jiriaya's tutelage.That was not who he was.Even when he had returned to Konoha, it had not felt as if he was fully there.Some part of him had always seemed conflicted, half possessed with thoughts of Sasuke.His all-consuming obsession.

"Perhaps it is better this way," Sakura murmured."Konoha can pick a king that cares for it." 

In their weeks of searching, all they had found was the final wreckages of the white monster's destruction.It churned Sakura's stomach, a reminder that this thing wasn’t truly settled.They were too many threads left unresolved.Madara's monsters had been slaughtered in the battle, but in her gut, Sakura knew that there were still some that had gotten away. 

And now they waited, somewhere in the wilderness. 

Did they harbor a grudge for the destruction of their master? Or had they become nothing but monsters, roaming the forest as dangerous and feral as any beast? Sakura was not satisfied with the few answers available to her.Time spent researching in Konoha's library had not turned up any answers about the creatures’ origins either.In his purges, King Hiruzen and Danzo had done great harm to Konoha.They had destroyed centuries of knowledge and history, and now it would not be so easily rebuilt. 

But the monsters were not the only threat remaining.The Akatsuki were still out there.Konan had fought in their battle, had rallied their troops, but the rest of their number were still a great, terrifying unknown.Sakura had caught a glimpse of the black and red livery of the Akatsuki in the thick of the battle, but she did not fool herself: they were not allies now.Any assistance in the war had been a score to settle with Sasuke Uchiha.Nothing more.

Sakura scowled, thinking again of Naruto’s choice of Sasuke.Of how, despite everything that the Uchiha had done, Naruto had still believed in him enough to throw everything away to chase him.As he had always done.In his own way, Naruto had also carved a path of destruction through Konoha. 

As if sensing her thoughts, Kakashi said “Don't be so hard on Naruto.”He pressed his lips to his forehead.“He wasn't meant for leadership."

Sakura chewed her lip.She hoped he was happy now, he and Sasuke off in some forgotten wasteland, fighting their private war.But they had all paid a high price for that happiness. 

How strange, now, to think of the world they were building.Kakashi was to be king.It was not yet official,but he would be crowned tonight.It had taken weeks of building trust among the nobles who had not been on the battlefield that day.Sakura knew well the factions of support Kakashi had had to win over.Merchants, noble families that handled grain, food supply. She had listened to Tsunade complain about them all the time when she had been the former regent's squire. 

With a pang, Sakura wondered if Tsunade would approve of Konoha's choice of king.She snuck a glance at Kakashi’s back as he put in one final half-hearted attempt at finding the sword.He looked so determined, leaning out over the river of snowmelt with a serious little stitch in his brow.Sakura could not help but think that yes.Tsunade would approve.

When Sakura thought of all the ways that Kakashi had sacrificed for the kingdom, of the way he believed, truly, that it was more than a city, more than a pile of stones and earth, her chest swelled with pride.

No one was more dedicated.Kakashi had even won her over, convincing her to return and fight for a kingdom that had forced her out. 

If that hadn't won him a throne, Sakura could think of little else that would. 

But she still did not know what it meant for her.Their relationship was private.In some ways, she wanted it to be a secret, shared only between them.But they had been poor keepers of that secret, and word had leaked quickly.The guard, it turned out, were handy gossips. 

But there had been no mention of marriage.This relationship was still new, and for now, they were happy with the course of it.Besides, Sakura was not sure if she wanted to be queen.She wanted to be a knight.It was what she had spent years fighting for.It was what she had dreamed of as a small girl and what she had sacrificed her youth for. 

"You're distressed," Kakashi said, his voice quiet.He had abandoned his search for the sword as soon as he had noticed Sakura still lingering on the tree line.He reached out, gently brushing her fingertips before wrapping an arm around her waist and drawing her close. 

He could read her so well.His touch was an immediate comfort, sending waves of warmth down her spine."I love you," she whispered, so quiet she doubted he could hear.“Everything is just…changing so quickly.” His answer was to draw her close, close enough that she could feel the heat of his breath on the curve of her ear. 

“I suppose I’m going to have to address you as Your Majesty now,” she teased on, determined not to ruin the day with her worries.The title immediately drew a groan from Kakashi."Don't call me that," he begged."Everyone is always calling me that now."

"It's what you are," she said, unrelenting."Isn't this what you wanted? You went on and on and on about duty, and now look what you've done.You proved you cared about the realm more than anyone else and now you’re stuck with it." 

"And you," he asked."Have I won you as well?"His voice took on a heavy, covetous tone, and Sakura drawing heat to Sakura’s cheeks.They talked about the future so rarely.In war, every day felt like a marvel, and there was never any promise of more than the next hour.And then, in the rebuilding, there had been too much in flux.It was impossible to imagine a future when they had new roles to play.Kakashi a king, and her--a hero.

It was strange to admit to herself, but the truth was undeniable.She had become a hero in Konoha.She, still a squire, had killed Madara before half of the army.In the moment she had thought of nothing but her own survival, and the personal drama playing out through Madara's memories.Sakura had been utterly unaware of the fact that much of the fighting had stopped completely to watch her. 

And now she was famous.Even those who had not been on the battlefield that day had heard of Sakura Haruno, the pink-haired squire, who had won the day and turned the tides of war.Try as she might to protest, people in town would not charge her for drinks.A flower-seller had given her a bouquet once and winked.

_"To our future queen," the woman had said, with a coy smile—one woman to another_.

Sakura had not told Kakashi of that.She was not sure of how he would react.There was no doubt in her mind that he saw a future with her, but part of her was not ready for that next step.To become something else yet again.She was not afraid that he might ask her to be his queen—but that he might be disappointed when she was not ready.

“Perhaps I'll dye my hair brown, and disappear into myth," she replied loftily."You can suffer through your dusty meetings.Perhaps other kingdoms have need of my services.I could become a mercenary, and rescue maidens and pretty boys from tyrants all over the continent."

"And abandon me?” Kakashi asked, his gaze intense for all that his tone was plaintive and teasing."I would be bereft without you." 

"Well, for now, I am going nowhere," she replied."I am but a humble squire, unable to call myself a knight.Perhaps when my liege gets around to it, he will knight me.But in the meantime, I have heard a rumor that he doubts my valor.I suppose I have yet to prove myself."

Perhaps she would undergo The Proving next year.It would be a trifle, nothing compared to the horrors of this year.When she was a page, it had seemed an impossible task shrouded in mystery and danger.Now Sakura saw that it was merely a final challenge to be completed.She would be older than the young crop of squires, and it would be a humiliation to be challenged aside the likes of Konohamaru and his ilk.But she would do it--she had come too far to be anything less than a knight.

"Never," Kakashi said, a rasp of seriousness in his voice.He drew her close, threading his fingers through her pink hair."I've never doubted your valor."

Shame crept in, as she realized that Kakashi had taken her at face value.That she had touched a nerve.He had become so serious of late.Sakura supposed that was what becoming king did to a man.It made you too concerned about the worries of others. 

"I know," she whispered, standing on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on his cheek."Your majesty."

He groaned but drew her close for a deeper kiss. Sakura leaned into it greedily, reveling in the feel of him. 

"Your majesty," a feminine voice said.They jumped apart, like youths who had been caught kissing behind a stable.It was a habit they could not seem to break.

Kurenai surveyed the scene, an eyebrow raised as she took in the scene.As Kakashi realized who interrupted, he relaxed.He had promoted her recently to Captain of the Guard in his stead. 

_I suppose they won’t let me muck around with the Guard anymore,_ Kakashi had sighed from his desk.One more change in a sea of others.

Sakura winked at the new captain.She had caught the older woman entangled in Sir Asuma's arms only last week, locked away in a broom closet. 

"I suppose you need me," Kakashi sighed."Or else you wouldn’t interrupt such important matters of state."

"Are you a matter of state now?" Kurenai asked, directing her gaze towards Sakura."I wasn't aware you had become so important."

"She's always been important," Kakashi snapped, with no real bite.But there was a genuine irritation there.Sakura brushed a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.Becoming king really did make a man too sensitive about words.

"You’re going to be late," Kurenai reminded."You can't romp through the woods all evening anymore." 

Kakashi let out a theatrical sigh, but he allowed himself to be lead back into the city. Even as he was teased the entire length of the journey by Sakura and Kurenai in turn.

* * *

The Great Hall was filled with life and warmth.Standing surrounded by people without weapons, without suspicion was still an uncomfortable feeling for Sakura.She had become so used to a sense of alarm, the feeling of watching her own back that it was still strange to let her hair down. 

The war was over, Danzo was gone.And now, seeing the great hall flickering with candlelight and decorated with winter plants, Sakura could feel some part of herself finally let go of her tension and anxieties. 

Long, brown boughs of wood, dressed in pine needles and tipped with white berries hung from the doors and the great sweeping arches of the castle's architecture.Anticipation hung heavy in the air as members of the Guard, the Knights of Konoha and their fighters, and citizens from the city and surrounding towns gathered to see their new king crowned.Foreign delegations had been sent from all the surrounding nations, to mark the transfer of power.

The delegation from Sunagakure still lingered in Konoha.Many of their forces had gone home, but King Gaara had stayed for the Coronation of the new king.He was stationed near the middle of the hall in a place of honor, flanked by his siblings Temari and Kankuro.Each was dressed in desert finery--which seemed to be made for hot weather and not the breezy cold of Konoha in the final days of winter.

Shikamaru was not far from Temari's side, although he did not look in her direction.Sakura had tried and failed at getting Ino to divulge what she knew of their relationship, but even his teammate seemed to be kept in the dark.

Ino.She was another of the unresolved threads of their war with Madara.She and the rest of the Konoha squires had been pardoned for their role.Shikamaru had even been granted a medal for his bravery, and for his loyalty to the realm even while Danzo had run roughshod over it.But Sakura could tell that Ino did not feel the affair was done.Her friend had always kept her secrets close to her own chest and did not share her worries easily. But Sakura had noticed that Ino constantly seemed to be looking over her own shoulder as if waiting for someone to jump her.

And Sakura had heard whispers.Rumors that some in the city thought her less than loyal to Konoha. 

It was but one of the thousand dramas left unsolved, the pieces Kakashi would have to pick up as king. The Great Hall was a microcosm of them, the dramas of the realm cast miniature. And In the center of it, standing closest to the throne, was Sakura, dressed in a gown made of silk that flowed off of her curves like a waterfall.Her hair had been swept up in a labyrinth of braids, and when she had looked in the mirror, it had been impossible to recognize herself. 

She had not lied, exactly, when she had joked of running away to become a roving knight.She would not leave Kakashi--she could not--but... a part of her still ached.Ached for adventure.And part of her feared the life that seemed to wait for her here.A part of her was thrilled to imagine life at Kakashi's side (although the word queen still sent jolts of nervousness down her spine).She never wanted to be parted from him. 

But would that mean a life spent as a diplomat and bureaucrat?A life spent as a public figure, good for nothing but displaying gowns and jewels?

Kakashi’s reign would not be perfect.She did not fool herself into believing that it would be nothing but peacetime and banquets.Nothing could last forever, least of all calm.But that knowledge did little to resolve Sakura’s uncertainty over her own fate. 

Trumpets sounded, shattering the anticipation in the air. With a bang, the doors to the great hall opened, and heralds announced the arrival of the new king.Everyone turned to see Kakashi enter from the front doors.He wore that same wolf’s fur mantle that had marked his position as leader of the Knight-Captain of the guard, a symbol of the role he would never truly let go of.But beneath it, he wore a lush forest-green tunic, paired with breaches of dark midnight cotton.He looked regal even without a crown on his brow, his presence radiating leadership and strength.A sword hung from his hip, but it was not the Forest Flame. It was nothing more than common steel, as inelegant as anything else his fighters wielded. 

At the sight of him, Sakura's chest felt as if it might collapse with pride.He had never sought power, never imagined becoming king.But he deserved it.Gods, if anyone deserved it he did.For all her worries surrounding the future, a part of her knew that he would be there at her side.No matter what she chose, who she wanted to become. 

Kakashi’s procession stopped, leaving standing at the throne.He turned, to face the crowd that had gathered so eagerly to see him. Sakura had to suppress a smile.He hid it well, but she could tell that he was embarrassed by the attention.Not for the first time, she wondered at his surprise at being named King.Had he truly found it so surprising?

Closest to the throne, she kneeled first, sending a wave of motion through the crowd.Kakashi waved a hand of dismissal, and Sakura was close enough to see the hidden plea in his gaze.

He was truly mortified to find himself the center of attention.

_You’ll have to get used to it_ , she thought, fighting harder to stifle her amusement. 

Then she stepped forward to complete her part in this display.

Sakura had been surprised when he had asked her to do the honors.He had been sheepish as he’d asked, and it had taken Sakura a moment to realize that it was more than their relationship.It was a political strategy.

Without the sword’s mandate, there would be some who would never see Kakashi as a legitimate king.This coronation was a chance to put to rest some of those concerns, the next step in crafting a new kind of governance.Even so, Sakura had imagined that he would choose someone old and venerable, a noble that dealt in economics, or perhaps even one of Danzo's companions on the Council of Advisors. 

But even with that understanding, Kakashi’s explanation had blindsided her.In killing Madara, Sakura's influence had grown more than she ever could have imagined.Konoha had always been a nation of warriors, and in destroying Madara, Sakura had claimed the respect of a nation.Her favor was a signal to the superstitious.The sword had not chosen Kakashi as king, but he had the support of the one who had taken down Madara.The one chosen by the gods to turn the tides of fate and save Konoha.

It was a mortifying description.Kakashi, it seemed, was not the only one embarrassed by the attention.

_"And besides," Kakashi had said."It should be you.I would want no one else by my side.”_

After that, all of Sakura's protests had died on her lips.

From behind the throne, a lady's maid in a fine blue dress appeared, carrying a burgundy velvet pillow.On it was Kakashi's crown.Unlike the sword, the Kings of Konoha could choose their adornments and it was tradition for them to design their own crown for the coronation.It was a symbol of what they hoped their reign would become.But Kakashi had no interest in designing jewelry.A crown seemed an impossible indulgence to a man who considered himself one of the Guard.So its design had fallen on Sakura's shoulders. 

Looking at the finished product now, Sakura could not help but pride herself on her choice.It was a fine piece of goldsmithing, a delicate circlet of crackling branches of gold, like new spring growth.

Or of tongues of lightning,

Careful not to bend the delicate piece, Sakura took the crown in hand. 

Without breaking eye contact, Kakashi kneeled before her and his realm.His embarrassment seemed to face, letting the gravity of the moment take over. 

With the sword gone, it was time for new traditions and a new Konoha.Meeting his gaze, Sakura projected her voice, letting it echo off the walls

“Do you, Kakashi Hatake, vow to put the realm before yourself?”Her voice quavered slightly.They had discussed the vows he would make at length.This, more than any choice of jewelry, would send a message. 

“I do.”

“Do you vow to serve those who have put their trust in you, faithfully and well?”

“I do.”

“Do you vow to protect the people of Konoha, from all who would seek to destroy the realm?From within and without?”

“I do.”

His grey eyes were intense as he spoke.Though his part was short, he seemed to savor every word, letting the responsibility settle on his shoulders, heavier than any crown.

Sakura place the crown on his brow, and said, “Then rise, King Kakashi Hatake."

The crowd erupted into cheers. 

A smile quirked on Kakashi's lips as he stood.Sakura moved to return to her place in the crowd, but he stopped her with a hand on the shoulder.“Forgive a king his indulgences."His voice was quiet enough that only she could hear, but the crowd had gone silent. 

Sakura's heart was in her throat as Kakashi spoke again, this time speaking loudly enough for the entire hall to hear, "Sakura Haruno, kneel."Another lady's maid stepped forward, and in her hands was a shield, its coat of arms covered by a sheet of cloth. 

Knees shaking, Sakura obeyed. 

Kakashi drew the sword at his hip and placed the flat of its blade on her left shoulder.Every muscle in Sakura’s body went still as she realized what this meant. 

“Do you, Sakura Haruno, swear your blade to the realm of Konoha?"His voice was loud and strong.It seemed that he had lost all traces of self-consciousness. 

"I do," she whispered, not trusting her voice to speak any louder.

He placed the sword on her left shoulder."And do you swear to lend your strength to protect those of the realm who cannot fight for themselves?”

"I do," she whispered. 

“And do you swear to put the honor of the realm first, serving the needs of the realm before your own?”

Sakura looked up at Kakashi, weighing her words carefully.It was the standard vow, a vow she had heard sworn a thousand times over.But still, as she spoke, it seemed to carry more weight than she had imagined.

“I do,” she said.

Kakashi’s grey eyes twinkled with mischief, and Sakura despite the gravity of the moment, could not help but chuckle.He looked too proud of himself.Weeks of complaints about ceremony and ritual, all the while keeping this plan secret. 

Kakashi turned to the woman at his left, holding the covered shield.She handed it to him, and with a flourish, Kakashi unveiled Sakura’s new coat of arms.

A pair of crossed blades, below a pink flower.And above it, a tiny golden crown.

"Then rise," Kakashi said.“Lady Haruno Sakura.Champion of the Realm."

Sakura obeyed. Tears prickled at her eyes as she met his pleased expression.His smile was warm and comforting, and Sakura had realized he had known.He had understood the storm that burned inside her.

And he had given her more than she would have ever asked for.

If she had not loved him already, this gesture, this perfect understanding would have brought her to her knees.He placed a kiss on her cheek, before whispering, “turn and face the good people.I believe they want to applaud.”She let him turn her, his hands on her hips.It was a gesture of naked possession, one that no one but a fool could misinterpret.But Sakura found that she did not care. 

As she faced the crowd, they lit up into cheers.In celebration of their new King and his Champion.

And Sakura knew that whatever came next, they would face it.Together.


End file.
